Organisational Behaviour

Formative Assessment

“Reality catches up with Aussieco”

Student Name: Arjun Chalana

Student ID: 000144352

Course: MA in Management
Reality catches up with Aussieco

Summary of the Company:

Aussieco is a large manufacturing company; it was started in 1962 as a small

manufacturing company based in Melbourne (Australia). The Company is into
producing computer controlled high precision mechanical hardware. The Company
is still run by the owner who formed it and acts as the chairman and chief
executive of the company but has no role in the day to day activities of the
company. The Company in the past ten years has been trying to diversify into
various products and segments but has not been successful; the company at the
present has 600 employees and is operated from an industrial suburb close to
the city of Melbourne, the chief executive is responsible for all the financial
decisions of the company but there are other layers of the management
organization, the next highest level is the executive managing director who is
the nephew of the chairman, the next layer is the general manager who is more
concerned with the day to day working and has different departments under
him. The company at present is facing a lot of critical problems which are
detailed below.i

Problems being faced:

Aussieco is facing a large number of issues due to the many different reasons.
Firstly, the organization has a bureaucratic design structure in which all the
decisions relating to the important financial decisions are taken by the top
management and people who are concerned with the working of the organization
are not even asked for advice which is a major issue for the financial well being
of the organization. Secondly, the management has not been paying attention to
the cognitive and social needs and the employees are getting frustrated.
Thirdly, the workers at the assembly line have a problem of co-ordination among
each other which is causing delay in production. Fourthly, there is a lack of
specialization with the product manager as he has very little or no knowledge
about what his foreman are talking about so again lack or no production at all.
Fifthly, there is a lack of commitment and motivation with the senior
programmer as rather than working on the important project is utilising the
opportunity to take his wife on a holiday. Sixthly, the production manager being
the most important segment is still the most underpaid sector in the
organization so the mangers keep on leaving as organization does not take care
of the physiological needs of the employees. Seventhly, there is a lack of
sharing of the data between the top levels of the organization as the owner
never shares data with the other members and continuous to work on his own
which is leading to autocratic style of working. Eighthly, there is difference
between facilities provided to the employees in terms of operatives not being
able to allowed to even have a drink which shows different cultures for every
level. Ninthly, there is a lack of proper facilities provided for the employees
which causes lack of motivation for employees to work. Tenthly, the company
hiring policy is not related to the positions people are hired for there is no
proper system of hiring as should be done as according to the five factor model.
Eleventh, the time the day gets over the people are just dashing to get out of
the building even if there is work left as they are not satisfied with their job,
so there is a problem with job satisfaction. Twelfth, the assembly line workers
just use overtime for just the name as they don’t work and just utilise the time
and increase the financial expenses even if the company is into losses this is due
lack of proper organization culture. Thirteenth, another major problem
happening in the organization is the lack of leadership qualities at all levels of
management from top level to the all levels of organization all mangers are
concerned with their well being rather than looking after the company and their
employees thus affecting the whole organization in terms of financial,
motivation, culture etc.ii

Reasons for the occurrence of the problems:

The problems faced by Aussieco are seriously hampering the business activities
of the organization and the company is not only facing financial crisis but other
issues which are mentioned above. Firstly, as the organization has a
bureaucratic structure, the organization structure works for certain
organizations but as the flow of information is not there in the organization and
the decisions are taken by the owner without consultation so it causes serious
problems as owner is not aware of the situation of the company. Secondly, the
basic cognitive and social needs are not met , as in the morning the employees
who are looking for parking space have no space or people walking from the
station without and transportation to the company are frustrated by the time
they arrive , so it becomes a bad start to the day. Thirdly, the assembly line
people have a huge problem of co-ordination as the stock is available but none
can be located for work to start so it causes a delay in production. Fourthly, the
product supervisor is not aware of what he needs to do and cannot understand
what his foreman are talking to him about as he was hired being a friend of the
project manager so he lacks the specialization required for job which affects
the production in a large way. Fifthly, the senior programmer has got a work
order to complete several programmes within five days and has got permission
to complete it from home but rather than completing the work he is planning to
take his wife on a holiday as he had done the same job earlier but was
overlooked at that time so he has no motivation and commitment to complete
the job. Sixthly, the most important sector is the least paid as the organization
does take care to physiological needs of the production managers as no person
has lasted more than 3 years at this position because his basic needs are not
met plus whenever they is problem he is not able to get in contact with the top
management as they are always busy. Seventhly, the autocratic style of working
is prevalent in the owner he does his own meetings within the organization the
other layers of the management do not even have a clue to what is happening
within the organization as he does meetings on his own, signs contracts even not
knowing whether the production can be done or not and the employees are even
scared to complain to the management as they have the fear of losing their job.
Eighthly, the company is having a strange organization culture and organization
values for various departments as some have got proper facilities for lunch and
can drink alcohol whereas the operatives are not even allowed any drink which
hampers the employees’ morale to work better. Ninthly, the employees are not
been provided with a good atmosphere and facilities to work in which causes a
lack of motivation among the employees to perform tasks better, there are
leakages in the wall which cause troubles to the operatives to work properly and
they have to get their own buckets to keep their working space dry, which
eventually leads to decrease in motivation to work for the organization. Tenthly,
the hiring practises in the organization are very biased, people who are hired
are not specialized for the job and hiring is done on references basis, generally
vacant positions are not filled by the promotions but people are hired
externally, training for development is not given to employees and generally
migrant labour is hired as it is cheap. Eleventh, the employees have a lack of job
satisfaction in that case rather to do work they wait for the day to get over
and leave from the workplace the reason for this is that the company even if
the employees leaves the job the company does not provide them with
references even though whatever the reason for leaving so the employees are
scared that even after leaving they might not get a job. Twelfth, the assembly
line workers due to different organization practises during the day make the
most of the overtimes even though there is no work for them to complete they
wait for the other staff to leave and have pleasant time drinking and relaxing
,causing a financial loss. Thirteen, the major issue with the organization is also
the lack of leadership qualities among the organization there is no flow of
information from the owner towards the other mangers he likes to have a
autocratic style of leadership and if anybody who tries to show him that he is
wrong the person instantly becomes his enemy, which indirectly is causing a huge
damage to the organization as a whole. iii

Conclusion:

Aussieco is a company which is not only facing Organisational behaviour issues ,

it has got several other problems which it is facing relating to profitability and
other financial issues but if the organisation structure is improved other areas
can be improved as everything begins with the culture of the organisation.
References:
i
Case Study “Reality catches up with Aussieco” by Jones, R. & Gal, P.
ii
(a) Durham Business School MA Courses 2010,Organisational Behaviour, by Nikos Bozionelos
, Session 1:

Introduction to Organisational Behaviour.

(b) Durham Business School MA Courses 2010, Organisational Behaviour, by Nikos

Bozionelos, Session 2:

Organisational Culture.

(c) Durham Business School MA Courses 2010, Organisational Behaviour, by Nikos

Bozionelos, Session 3:

Individual Differences: Personality & Mental ability.

(d) Durham Business School MA Courses 2010, Organisational Behaviour, by Nikos

Bozionelos, Session 4:

Individual Differences: Attitudes in the work place.

(e) Durham Business School MA Courses 2010, Organisational Behaviour, by Nikos

Bozionelos, Session 6:

Leading others.
iii
Case Study “Reality catches up with Aussieco” by Jones, R. & Gal, P.