HRES1101: Organizational Effectiveness and Workplace Culture

Learning Outcomes:

Analyze components of organizational effectiveness.

Explain elements of organizational culture.

Examine factors impacting employee behaviour and performance.

Assignment Overview:

Organizational effectiveness is always a key topic of conversation within the organizational boardroom. Companies are finally realizing that the answer to running an effective

business is no longer as simple as cutting costs and increasing workload. Organizational behaviour practitioners believe that in order for an organization to truly be effective, they must address and embrace four key perspectives (practices) - not just one or two, but all four: Open System Perspective, Learning Perspective, High Performance Work Practices (HPWP), and Stakeholder Relationships.

Another important factor which has been proven to impact organizational effectiveness is workplace culture. This refers to shared values and assumptions within an organization…the sum of attitudes, customs, traditions, and values which distinguish one group of people from another. Many organizations realize the valuable role developing a strong culture can play on overall performance, and have therefore made it a prime area of focus within their workplace.

This assignment will provide an opportunity for learners to explore organizational effectiveness and workplace culture through the lens of Organizational Behaviour, and the important role the aforementioned concepts play in a company’s long-term success. It will also provide an opportunity for learners to apply their critical thinking skills as they make insightful recommendations that will help their organization improve its effectiveness.

Part 1: Organizational Effectiveness and Workplace Culture

Organizational effectiveness:

Consider the work practices and conditions within your current workplace (or perhaps a previous workplace of yours). Choose 3 perspectives of organizational effectiveness (NOT all 4) and critique how your organization does, or does not, address these practices (note: if you do not have any work experience, choose an organization which interests you and research it. Follow the same instructions, provide relevant examples, support your responses with secondary research, cite your references throughout, and provide a reference page).

I am looking for application of organizational perspectives here. This will require critical thinking on your part which means you will be expected to understand and explore organizational effectiveness through a variety of different lenses as it relates to your company.
Although some examples may fit within multiple perspectives, clearly explain “why” your examples are relevant to the particular perspective you have chosen. Each example can only be used once within your paper.

Workplace culture:

In addition to addressing organizational effectiveness perspectives, you will describe the workplace culture within your organization. What are the core values shared by employees that guide employee behaviour? Describe various artifacts within your organization which support the workplace culture you have identified (e.g. physical structure, language, rituals, etc.). Do you feel your organization has a strong or weak culture? Justify your response and provide examples.

Part Two – Recommendations

Choose 2 sections from Part 1, and make specific recommendations that will help your company improve in these areas. For example – imagine you addressed Open Systems, Learning Perspective, Stakeholder Perspective, and Workplace Culture in Part 1. You now need to choose 2 of those for this section (e.g. Learning Perspective and Workplace Culture) and provide 2-3 specific recommendations for each that you feel will help your organization address these elements more effectively. Be sure to justify your responses and explain why you feel your recommendations will make the company more effective in these areas. Your recommendations need to be thorough, specific, and the need to provide detail illustrating HOW your organization would actually go about applying them. For example, do not simply say that the organization needs to implement better reward programs to help create a more positive culture. You need to outline how this would be done and what type of reward programs they should use, what impact you feel this would have on the organization, and why you feel these would be so effective. Be thorough and specific:

Do NOT simply list a bunch of recommendations. I am looking for you to contribute depth and insight. Explain your ideas in a reflective and thorough manner.

Each example can only be used once. Do not use the same examples in multiple areas of your paper.

This will require critical thinking which means you will be expected to understand and explore the model through a variety of different lenses as it relates to your organization.