Organisations and Behaviour Assignment 1

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05014

BTEC HND IN BUSINESS
(MANAGEMENT)
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UNIT TITLE
ASSIGNMENT TITLE
ASSIGNMENT NO
NAME OF ASSESSOR
SUBMISSION DEADLINE

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05A
F05-014
Organisations and Behaviour
Microsoft
1 of 2 (individual report)
Mr. John Andre
21 November, 2012

I, ___ Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh_____ hereby confirm that this assignment is my own work and not
copied or plagiarized from any source. I have referenced the sources from which information is
obtained by me for this assignment.

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________21 November, 2012_____
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Unit Outcomes
Outcome

Evidence for the
criteria

Feedback

Assessor’s decision
First
attempt

Understand
the
relationship
between
organisational
structure and
culture
LO1

Understand
different
approaches to
management
and
leadership

compare and
contrast different
organisational
structures and
culture

1.1

explain how the
relationship
between an
organisation’s
structure and
culture can
impact on the
performance of
the business

1.2

discuss the
factors which

influence
individual
behaviour at
work

1.3

compare the
effectiveness of
different
leadership styles
in different
organisations

2.1

explain how
organisational
theory underpins
the practice of
management

2.2

evaluate the
different
approaches to
management
used by different
organisations

2.3

LO2

Merit grades awarded

M1

M2

M3

Distinction grades awarded

D1

D2

D3

Assignment
2

Rework

Internal
Verification

Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05014

Outcome

Evidence for the
criteria

Feedback

Assessor’s decision
First
attempt

Rework

( ) Well-structured; Reference is done properly / should be done (if any)
Overall, you’ve

Areas for improvement:

DATE

ASSESSOR SIGNATURE

/

/

/

/

NAME:.........................................................................................

(Oral feedback was also provided)
STUDENT SIGNATURE

DATE

NAME :..............................................................................
FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY
VERIFIED
YES
NO
DATE
: ...........................................................................
VERIFIED BY : ...........................................................................
NAME
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ORGANIZATIONS STRUCTURE, CULTURE
3

Internal
Verification


Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05014

Prepared for:

Lecturer, Mr. John Andre
Organization and Behaviors
Banking Academy, Hanoi
BTEC HND in Business (Finance)

Prepared by:
Nguyễn Thị Kiều Anh - Snow - F05A
Registration No. ITPF05-014
No of words: 2704
Submission date: 20 November, 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
Study about organization and behavior helps learner understand about individual and
group behavior in organizations and their application in managing behavior in the workplace.
The structure and culture of an organization are the key factors which contribute to the
motivation of the workforce at all levels of the organization. This assignment will explore the
links between the structure and the culture of organizations and the way that these influence
the behavior of the workplace through the analysis of two companies: Microsoft and Hewlett
Packard.
Microsoft is a publicly traded company producing and selling software programs. In
2010, it was ranked as 36th on Fortune 500’s annual rankings of America’s companies.
Hewlett Packard is also one of the leading technology companies, operating in many
countries in over the world.
This report based on many resources on internet, books to illustrate the factors affect

to the operation of the business such as: organizational structure and culture, and motivational
theories.

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CONTENTS
I. Understand the relationship between organisational structure and
culture
1.1 Compare and contrast different organizational structures and culture
a.

Organizational structure
Structure is a very important part of any organization, whether it’s big or small.
Organization structure relate to the way that an organization arranges staffs and jobs
logically in order to help companies perform effectively and met its stated objectives
(Scott, n.d.). There are many forms of organizations, however, flat and tall structure is
considered as core structure of the company.
Microsoft and Hewlett Packard also have flat structure. “A flat organization is one
which, in relation to its size, has a small number of hierarchical. This implies a wide
span of control” (BPP, 2004).
According to Charles Hill and Gareth Jones (2008, p.217) “With its 30,000 employees
and five hierarchical levels, Microsoft has a relatively flat structure”. It has a broad
pyramid shape, wide span of control with fewer levels between the top of the pyramid
and the bottom of the pyramid with Steve Ballmer (CEO of Microsoft), the executive
management staff forming the top of the pyramid and many employees forming the
bottom of the pyramid.

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Figure 1: Microsoft’s Organizational Structure

With HP, Hurd (CEO of HP) “has flattened HP’s 14 layers of management to have
more executive vice presidents reporting directly to the CEO. Business units will have
more autonomy to execute their plans combined with increased accountability for
their results” (Gitman & McDanie, 2009). Therefore, nowadays HP has flat structure.

Figure 2: Hewlett Packard’s Organizational Structure
b.

Organizational Culture
There are many ways to define culture and also many ways to understand
organization culture. Culture (in the sense of organization “climate”) is the
collective self-image and style of the organization, its shared values and beliefs,
norms and symbols (BPP Learning Media, 2010, p.102)

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Organizational culture of Microsoft and HP has some same features. For example,
they also decentralize authority, empower to employees, in other words, it is
individual culture. However, two companies also some different characteristics.
Microsoft’s organizational culture is fear and non-innovative whereas HP’s one is

innovative.
•

Similarities

Both two companies also have individual’s own motivation strategy. They treated
their employees as members of a family, trust and respect each other. Their
employees are empowered and are allowed to make their own decisions and speak
out their ideas regardless of age or degree.
•

Differences

Eichenwald said: “Microsoft Company whose innovations had to often been
lackluster or weak”. In contrast, according to Kevin C.Desouza (2007) “HP is a
company that recognized the value of innovation throughout the organization. HP
focuses on all aspects of innovation: product and service innovation; innovation in
business models; cultural and organizational innovation”

1.2 Explain how the relationship between an organisation’s structure and culture
can impact on the performance of the business
The relationship between organization’s structure and culture impact on the performance
of the business directly. “Organization structure impacts workplace culture through
controlling, coordinating and motivating employees to work together to accomplish
company goals and objectives” (Thornton, 2012). One of the most important features in
relationship between organizational structure and culture is that it gives clear picture to
the employees about their limitations and responsibilities and so not to concern about the
issues that are beyond their scope of expectation this will help employees to work more
efficiently. An effective coalition between organization structure and culture gets people
closer to achieve organizational end goals more efficiently”. This proves that structure is

an integral part of any organizational culture.

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The relationship between organization’s structure and culture impact on the performance
of the business directly. It can be assessed as one of factors decides that whether the
company will succeed or fail in the competitive market. We can evaluate relationship
between organizational culture and structure through technical analysis in stock charts.
According to istockchart, “A stock chart is a graphical representation of stocks price over
a set period of time”. If the company has good relationship between organizational
culture and structure, they will perform well increase revenue, profitability  increase
stock prices. In contrast, stock prices will decrease significantly.
•

Microsoft
- Structure: Flat
- Culture: Fear, individual, non-innovative

Figure 3: Stock prices of MSFT

This is line chart which expressed the stock price of MSFT from 2003 to 2012. As can be
seen, the stock prices of MSFT fluctuated significantly between 15 and 37 millions.
Starting with an unstable trend, the stock prices increased to the highest point of 37
millions in 2008. However, it decreased dramatically to the lowest point in 2009. From
2010 to 2012, stock prices saw a slightly and quite a stable in the years after. This proves
that MSFT does not combine effectively between organizational culture and structure.
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•

Hewlett Packard
- Structure: Flat
- Culture: individual, innovative.

Figure 4: Stock prices of HP

Similar to MSFT, HP also had a strongly fluctuations from 2003 to 2012. Starting with a
dramatically increase to the highest point about 55 millions in 2008, however, it saw a
significant drop in 2009 with only 25 millions. Then there was a significant increase
between 2010 and 2011 with 55 millions, highest compared to all years, followed by a
dramatically drop in the last years. This proves HP also does not strong combination
between organizational structure and culture.

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Figure 5: Comparison of stock prices of HP and Microsoft

In general, HP and MSFT also do not succeed in building good relationship between
organizational structure and culture. Therefore, their business operation is not stable
among years. However, as can be seen, HP still has more outstanding features than
MSFT such as innovative culture. As a result, stock prices of HP are higher than MSFT.

1.3 Discuss the factors which influence individual behaviour at work
The behaviour of employees is difficult to predict because each individual behaves
differently in different situations and with different people. Employees’ behaviour
influence on the operation of the business directly so manager need understand why they
behave as they do to change their behaviour in such a way as to increase their
contribution to organizational goals. There are five factors influence individual
behaviour at work:
•

Personality

•

Perception

•

Attitude

•

Ability and Aptitude

•

Conflict, Stress and Change

We will explain some factors to understand in detail about its effects of individual
behaviour at work of Microsoft company.

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a.

Ability
At Microsoft, human being is factor decide whether success or failure of business
operation. They have a key role because these people can grasp the situation better,
catch up how to work more effectively at work, thus saving time and money for the
company. Therefore, Microsoft is interested in employees’ ability. To recruit talent
for Microsoft, HR by David Pritchard director takes more responsibility of applying
the most effective measure to recruit and train talent people (Chu, 2011). The
selection is carried out under a variety of forms. For a leading company like
Microsoft, they look for people who are the best in the famous universities and
achieve award in competitions about knowledge. In order to check their ability
directly, after selecting thousands of records, the candidates have to undergo an
interview. Pritchard used to say: “When hiring people with average ability, it is
preparing for the end of the Microsoft”. Therefore, the qualification examination is
held fairly. Besides, Microsoft also choose people who without a master's degree but
they have performed well in work. In short, to do work at Microsoft, they must be
intelligent, always know dedicate their talent for the company; they will be paid for
what they have contributed to the company.

b.

Attitude
Attitude of all member of Microsoft company together and attitude of employees
with company is positive. The good relationship among member of company is the

most important factor to assess the development of the company. Employees who
are treats with respect, they will have positive attitude in protect company’s assets
and participate in company activities. Microsoft creates for them an environment
where people are treated fairly and feel comfortable to help them reduce pressure of
the information technology industry (janvier, 2009).

II. Understand different approaches to management and leadership
2.1 Compare the effectiveness of different leadership styles in different
organisations
a.

Leadership style of Steve Ballmer and effectiveness

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Steve Ballmer is a transformational leader. It is expressed through passion and
enthusiasm about what he does. He believes is “universally applicable to anybody
who wants to be a leader” is passion “You have got to love what are doing” (Anon,
2007).At Microsoft’s company meeting, he shouted: “I love this company”. He is also
an autocratic leader. He always thinks that what he do is right. He can do anything to
motivate employees meet objectives which he proposes. It is can be said that
Ballmer’s leadership style is negative. Peter Skyte, national officer at Amicus said:
“A cutting-edge company like Microsoft should be encourage staff rather than trying
to motivate them through a culture of fear”. Furthermore, a group of disgruntled
senior Microsoft executives have been discussing ways to oust CEO Steve Ballmer,
according to a report from Peter Lauria of the Daily Beast. The conspirators are upset
both about Microsoft’s stagnant share price and his autocratic leadership style (Spak,

2010). By most measures under his leadership Microsoft’s standing in the tech world
has deteriorated, not strengthened (Johnny, 2012). As a consequence of this leadership
style, Microsoft’s revenues have more than doubled since Ballmer took over in 2000,
but its share price has fallen from $48.93 to $25.12 over the same period anyway
(Anon, 2010).
b.

Leadership style of Meg Whitman and effectiveness
Meg Whitman used to be CEO of eBay before becoming CEO of Hewlett Packard so
she has much experience in management. Her leadership style is supportive and
participative. Firstly, Whitman builds strong relationships with employees by
supporting treats them with care and respect (Terry, 2011). Secondly, she always
listens and lets her employee’s voice there say in meetings and important decisions
within the company (Terry, 2011). Although her leadership style is very positive;
however, with global economic crisis as well as the ineffective combination between
organizational structure and culture, its effectiveness on HP is negligible. To specify,
HP still does not remarkable in financial situation. For the full year fiscal 2012, net
revenue of $120.4 billion was down 5% from the prior-year period and down 4%
when adjusted for the effects of currency (HP, 2012).

2.2 Explain how organisational theory underpins the practice of management
a.

Scientific management (Taylor’s theory):
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This theory enhances the roles of management; they have to respond of selecting,

training, and helping workers to perform their jobs properly (BPP, 2004). The
manager breaks each job down into smallest motion for each employee. Employees
must obey requirements strictly. This makes decline creation of employees; the role of
employees does not exist in company’s business operation. Job becomes boring
because they must do the same work in the same way. The employee is only a tool to
speak, not to be seen, do not be concerned. For MSFT - a large company, role of
employee is important in company’s working performance so the employees should
be treated fairly, and considered as members of family. This theory is not suitable for
company like Microsoft.
b.

Theory X and Theory Y (McGregor’s theory)
Microsoft is flat structure with wide of control. They have many employees so it is
hard to control all of them so manager must base on trust on their employees to
business operation. Theory Y is suitable for Microsoft. In theory Y worker could be
describe as individuals who like work and seek responsibility (Rilly, 2012). Therefore,
unlike classical theory, employees can take responsibility with themselves and their
work, are not more pressure by manager. From that, employees can create
environment where they can develop their creativity.

2.3 Evaluate the different approaches to management used by different
organisations
There are many organizational approaches
Classical approach: Emphasis on purpose, formal structure, hierarchy of management,
technical requirements, and common principles of organization.
+ Scientific management (Taylor’s theory): divided people into work.
+ Classical Administration (Fayol’s theory): divided people into function.
+ Bureaucracy (Max Weber’s theory)
- Human relations approach (Mayo’s theory): Attention to social factors at work,
groups, leadership, the formal organization, and behaviour of people.

+ Neo-human relations (Herzberg’s theory)
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- Systems approach: The integration of the classical and human relations approaches,
importance of the socio-technical system, the organization within its external
environment.
- Contingency approach (Lupton’s theory): No one best design of organization. Form of
structure, management, and “success” of the organization dependent upon a range of
situational variables. (Mullin, 2007)
a.

Classical administration
Division of work: Employee will achieve high results when they do what they good at.
Therefore, MSFT divide into different departments with different functions such as
design, testing, marketing and business for suiting with ability of each person.
Matched authority and responsibility: Manager is people who take more
responsibility of company. They build plans, projects, and divide work for employees.
If MSFT or plans meet the difficulty, they are nervous, and stress the most. In general,
the success and failure of the company depend on their decisions.
The scalar chain of command: As a result of the corporate reshaping, Microsoft's
chain of command now looks like this: Herbold, chief operating officer; Frank M.
(Pete) Higgins, group vice president of interactive media; Paul A. Maritz, group vice
president of platforms and applications; and William H. Neukom, senior vice
president, law and corporate affairs, will report to Ballmer. These executives
previously reported directly to Gates. Public relations, which formerly reported to
Ballmer, will now report to Herbold, while Ballmer's other existing direct reports will
continue to answer to him. Nathan Myhrvold, chief technology officer, will continue

to report to Gates (Pelline, n.d.)
Subordination of individual interests: A management has to put company’s objectives
first. To do that, MSFT must take care of the interests of the employee to them interest
in organization’s interest as their one.

b.

The system approach
In this approach, HP is considered as a system with the boundary of inside and
outside. HP is assessed as open system for the following reasons. People who work
for HP bring with effects from environment: family pressures, government demands
(BPP, 2004). In addition, for input factors, it includes capital, labour, information
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materials which create products with high technology, high quality and highinnovative and generates output such as HP laptop, printers...as a result of business
activities.

CONCLUSION
This report can be helpful resources to help people, especially students can understand
deeply about “Organization and Behaviour” subject through two specific companies
Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. It show features about organizational structure and culture of
each company and explore the link between structure and culture which interact and
influence significantly on behaviour of workforce and are the key factors which contribute to
the motivation of the workforce. Also, the leadership style which leader uses to manage
employee to understand how the company achieve success or failure. Furthermore, it also
provides information to more understand about managing approaches which companies
follow and its effectiveness on business operation of each company. In general, with more

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understanding of organization and behaviour will help company to have the correct
orientation to develop the company.

REFERENCES
BPP Professional Education (2004). Organisations and Behaviour. 1st ed., London: BPP
Professional Education Aldine House, Aldine Place
Chu, D. (n.d.). Bí quyết thành công của Microsoft là gì? Retrieved 2011, from
/>Eichenwald, K. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2012, from
/>Gitman & McDanie. (2009). The Future of Business: The Essentials. USA: CENGAGE
Learning.
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Groeger, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from />Hewlett Packard Company. (19, November 2007). Retrieved March 30, 2008, from
/>Hewlett-Packard Company. (2008). Hewlett-Packard. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (2008). Corporate Objectives. Retrieved April
2, 2008, from />HP. (n.d.). Financial news. Retrieved 2012, from
/>Istockchart. (n.d.). Retrieved 2012, from />Janvier. (n.d.). THÀNH CÔNG VỀ MẶT QUẢN LÝ CỦA MICROSOFT VÀ NHỮNG ĐÓNG
GÓP CẢI TIẾN QUẢN TRỊ CỔ ĐIỂN. Retrieved 2009, from
/>Johnny. (n.d.). Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Rated Worst CEO In America. Retrieved
September 29, 2012, from />McGraw. (n.d.). Individual behaviour, Personality and Values. Retrieved from
/>McShane & VonGlinow. (n.d.). Retrieved from />Mullins, L.J., 2007 Management and Organizational Behaviour.8th ed. Pearson education Itd

Pelline, J. (n.d.). Ballmer named Microsoft president. Retrieved July 21, 1998, from
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(2011), p.297.

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Prabes. (n.d.). Fixing What’s Broken: H.P’s Structural Challenges. Retrieved July 27, 2012,
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Terry, M. (n.d.). Retrieved April 7, 2011, from
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White, B. (2006, December 13). Best & Worst: Hewlett Packard redefines "poor decision
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