Organisational Culture And Motivation: A Case Study Of BBC

Task 1

a) Using Handy’s cultural typology (1986) or an alternative academic cultural model, identify and discuss the earlier organizational culture within the BBC, as observed by the Smith review.

b) Analyse how culture, power and politics overall have affected the behaviour within the BBC in the recent past and today.  In your analysis you may want to discuss how much of an influence power and politics played in this culture and discuss the culture now being developed within the BBC.
Task 2

a) Explain what is meant by content and process theories of motivation.

b) Evaluate how these, along with other motivational techniques, may have helped to improve the effectiveness in the teams within the BBC.

c) How will improved levels of motivation within the BBC help to achieve its organisation’s goals?
Task 3  
a) Identify and explain the different types of teams (you must include functional, problem solving and project and virtual teams), within the BBC and why having different types of teams is important.

b)  Explain what makes an effective team in the BBC. In answering this question you should relate to appropriate theory such as Tuckman and Jensen’s model of team development and/or Belbin’s team roles.
Task 4 
a) Using an appropriate organisational concept/theory (such as path-goal theory) suggest how team performance and productivity could be improved within the BBC. 
b)  What have been the main barriers to effective performance within the BBC?

Organisational Culture: A Review of BBC

British Broadcasting Corporation or better known as BBC is one of the oldest media houses in the world and over the years the company has set some of the significant benchmarks in the media and news industry. But in the past decade the growth of the company had become stagnant and the management had be continuously facing criticism for various reasons. Established in the year 1922 the company has its headquarters in London (bbc.co.uk, 2017).  The organisation has been a part of the culture and heritage of the country and has been the official media partner with the monarchy as well.

a) Identification and discussion of the earlier organizational culture within the BBC, as observed by the Smith review 

In the theory of organisational behavior culture of an organisation plays a significant role in determining the commitment of an employee towards the organisation he or she is employed. According to Handy’s concept on cultural theory organisation culture can be divided in four segments: Power Culture: the power distribution in this type of culture is concentrated among a few top management people and these people are the ones who formulate decisions and policies for the organization. The rules and regulations of the organisation is also dependent on these people, the advantage of this culture is that the decision making process is quick. Role Culture: in this process the power is distributed and people have a designated role to play in the organization, usually there is a hierarchal structure. Task Culture: group involvement and team works are a major part of this culture and assignments depending on the expertise of the team is delegated.  The power shifts from person to person depending on the changes in the task requirement. Lastly Person culture: the people in this organisation position themselves above the organization, the delegation of power is in group of people, legal and accounting firms are the example of such a culture (Russo et al, 2013).

As observed by Smith the culture that previously prevailed in BBC can be explained as task culture. The departments of the organisation work individually without close monitoring of the higher management of the organization. Smith explains in her review that if a subordinate is in trouble or has some queries regarding a topic he should referrer to the person who is the immediate senior, now it is up to the senior to move the communication further upward. The managers as observed by her during the 1970s and 1980s had strong personalities, and were confident people (Kaufman & McCaughan, 2013).

Motivation: A Conceptual Framework

Culture is an important aspect in running a business successfully because it ensures employee retention.  In BBC the culture that has been analyzed previously is based on a lot of internal politics and power that has been identified within the departments as the higher and the top management of the company did not have proper control or monitor over the department’s internal matters. In any organisation the level of competition has increased immensely, this has given rise to enhanced amount of internal conflicts and politics which in turn gives rise to job dissatisfaction among the employees as well as reduced commitment towards the organization. Sometimes the situation is such that politics become significant to even survive in the organization (Kaufman & McCaughan, 2013). The transformation of power within the organisation to actions can be called politics. A skilled and expert employee of an organisation might decide to leave an organisation as he or she does not have the ability to counter the political environment. This is regarded as a major loss for the company as organisation employees a lot of time and resource to train and develop skills within an employee. On the other hand, power and politics is inevitable while running an organization, decision making and formulation of policies are one of the major output of the system.  BBC is a media house and it has an enhanced responsibility towards the society in providing the correct facts and figures to the common people.  The company is known to have pioneered and set benchmarks for other media houses in terms of values and principle that has to be incorporated in the business (bbc.co.uk, 2017). In the recent past the company has recognized the importance of working together as a team and not individually in departments, the previous issues that the company has faced in terms of organizational structure and behavior can be solved with this new approach. To combat the issues within the company the executives of BBC started with redefining the structure in order to provides better programming and content, in an efficient and effective way. Secondly the company was also up for a revamp of its culture, to encourage more people to be enthusiastic and motivated to do their work (Serrat, 2017).

The leadership of director general Tony Hall, and is known as the creative leader of BBC. The HR department under his leadership has developed segments that bring together area of expertise such as ‘nations and regions’ and ‘channels and commissioning’ the company has also led to a delayering of management. The company has been focusing on establishing prominent command chains provides facility for the employees an easy operation platform. This will also help them find the answers they require and channelize the challenges as well as grievances to the right people. The culture that the company is trying to implement focuses on collaboration of the employees to work together towards a common objective of the organisation regardless of the departments. To improve the culture of the company an overall change has been implemented like: employee support in grievances and issues, better management visibility, identification of good work, promoting team work as well as simplification of complicated procedures (Inside the BBC, 2017).

a) Content and process theories of motivation 

Motivation Strategies at BBC

Motivation is an internal or external stimulus that is incorporated in a person to deal with situations it is the desire to do things. It is the process of inspiring people in order to accomplish the goals as motivation is the responsible for a person’s action. Developing urge and willingness among the people in order to increase their productivity and efficiency is regarded as one of the most important functions of management. There are stages of motivation that has to be analyzed and utilized by the management in order to encourage the people (Pakdel, 2013).

Content motivation theory is the traditional prospective of motivation that has been discussed by several theorists like Maslow in the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Federick Herzberg in his Two factor theory as well as  David McClelland in Need for achievement, affiliation and power.  In these theories the explanation of motivation is from the perspective of individual need and requirements it answers the question: what motivates a person? To what extent and to what level is the content achieved.   In business organizations it is very important to recognize the needs that would satisfy and encourage the employees so that their productivity is improved and their efficiency is enhanced (Teixeira & Hagger, 2016).

Process motivation theory is the contemporary approach towards the concept of motivation. This concept is explained in theories like Reinforcement, Expectancy, Equity and Goal setting. This theory deals with the question: how are people motivated? The foundation of this theory is the diverse behavioral patterns of individuals in the way of attaining fulfillment of desires and needs (Elliot et al 2017).

b) Motivational techniques to improve the effectiveness in the teams within the BBC

  Team effort in any organisation is the key to success and smooth running of the daily operations of the company. As a media house BBC has several segments and departments within the organisation that deal in interconnected services which lead to a common goal of keeping the people informed and enlightened with correct news.  Over the years the company has expanded its operation in several countries and in several medium as well, BBC operates in the market that include television, radio and online (bbc.co.uk, 2017). In any organisation that is dependent heavily on the teams to deliver the goals individual as well as team wise motivation is essential. Firstly the company has distributed the power and has reduced the amount of senior manager by 40% this has made approachability easier. In case of any issue or grievance within the organisation a person will know whom to approach. This will work as an intrinsic motivation as the employees will know that there is someone to listen to their issues as well. This is also essential for BBC as according to the review of Smith people are looking for a work environment where they can raise any grievances and queries and a safe work culture (Gagné, 2014). The approach of the company of working together will also promote an equal treatment among the employees and also reduce the internal conflict which is one of the main reasons for reduction of efficiency and productivity of the employees.  BBC regards the employees of the organisation as the ambassadors of the organisation hence giving each employee equal importance and respect. Performance management was enhanced to identify hard work and reward it, this practice was already prevalent but it has to be more concrete and on various levels. This will motivate the people as that will understand that their efforts are being recognized by the company (Niemiec & Spence, 2017).  

Team Management and Motivation at BBC

In team management and motivation it is very important for the leaders to understand and recognize the different abilities of the employees and delegate tasks in their forte in order to increase productivity as well as efficiency of that person.  In team recognition of the efforts play an important role in motivating the person to strive harder. By developing a favorable and encouraging work culture the company can motivate the teams. Rewards in teams of materials as well as encouragement for performance help the team members to be motivated. Proving the members of the team opportunity to grow and develop their skills better is also another way BBC can implement to improve their motivational practices. This strategy is also at par with the changes in the work culture that the company is trying to build (Gagné, 2014).  

The organisational objectives of BBC are:  

• To develop a more personal approach
• To demonstrate value for money in every area of work
• To come up with innovative and creative content this is informative, enlightening and entertaining
• To provide the employees an enriching experience by working with BBC

Motivation among the people of the organization is directly responsible for their productivity and efficiency. Motivation helps in reducing the employee turnover of the company. Motivation helps in creating a work environment that is friendly and helpful providing the people of the organisation a will to work towards the objectives of the organisation. BBC recognizes that the employees of the organisation are the backbone of the company (Deci & Ryan, 2014).

a) Identification and explanation of  the different types of teams within BBC

The structure and division of BBC can be firstly divided based on the medium: the company has television, radio as well as digital. Like any other company the organisation has an HR, Finance, executive, administrative and marketing segment. Depending on the medium the teams are segregated as: for television and radio - the teams are divided in pre production and post production purposes the teams are production team, editorial team and content team. In the digital segment there is a content team, editorial team, production team to generate videos and photographs (Dochy et al 2013).

In any organization division of teams depending on the expertise and skills are important in order to de-clutter the complex procedure of delegation of work. For a company whose operation is as large as BBC the delegation of assignment and daily job is complex and hence segregation of the teams is easy for the management to monitor. The leaders of the team will also be an expert in the segment that the team deals in and hence it will be easy for the manager of the team to guide and direct the subordinates in the correct direction (Dochy et al 2013). Dividing the teams in the organisation helps in creation of talents as the people are focused in their expertise and grows in their specific area; teams reduce the work stress form one person and disperse it among the group by concentrating on the individual talents and skills. The motivation can be inflicted in a team based workforce better as the colleagues in the same team work as inspiration and internal conflicts can also be easily resolved in a team based workforce (Woodcock, 2017). 

Conclusion

Tuckman in his theory explains four stages of team formation with the association of Jensen a new stage was added to the theory. The five stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning (Mone & London, 2014).

BBC has established itself as a pioneer in the media industry and the operations of the company have expanded to various countries as well. There are many correspondents in other countries who report from the specific area to the head quarters. The company looks after the skills and expertise of a person before hiring and accordingly delegates the resource to a team. For example if a person is good in the language of communication but cannot handle the equipments then he or she will be in the content or editorial team than the production team. Formation of the team is based on the requirement that arises, after hiring a person he or she joins the team has to become a part of the team. In this case the managers have to make the person feel welcome to the team and based on the recent cultural advancement in the organisation the leaders of the team should make the people of the group feel that they are approachable under any circumstances. When the above circumstances are met the team grows into a stage where the efficiency of the team members are enhanced, there is significant progress in the efficiency as well as performance level of the people. As motivation is regarded as one of the most important factor in team building and team management after the enhancement of the performance external motivation is not that important as the people are self motivated (Nancarrow et al 2013).

a) Improvement of team performance within BBC 

The path and goal theory of management that is developed by Robert House is based on the foundation that an employee’s expectation about the relationship in between his effort and performance is greatly affected by the behavior of the leader of the team. he explains that the manager of a team or a leader helps the team to strives to achieve a particular goal he removers the barriers in the path and helps in resolving issues.  The leader is expected to provide support, information and coach the team. Based on this theory following are some of the measures that can be taken to improve the performance of the teams in BBC (Tims et al 2013).

Skill development and enhancement of expertise of the team members is one of the ways to improve the performance of BBC.  

As BBC is a creative and innovation driven company that focuses on improving the content and process of delivery, the teams should be individually supported by the management to promote innovation.

To improve the performance of a team the leaders of the team should be visionary and far sighted in order to tactfully handle crisis situation and not let any issues impact the performance of the team. The leader should be encouraging and motivating and that will directly resonate with the performance of the employee and in turn the team (Costa et al 2014).

Building commitment towards the company is essential for the employees as well as for the organization, work culture and work environment of the company should be controlled, as previously discussed the company is building a new culture which will help team bonding as well as improves the performance of the team.

Creating a feeling of a team and group which has one similar goal with the help of meeting and team hurdles will help the member of the team to stay focused and understand the fact that they are being monitored as well. This will help improve the productivity and efficiency of the team collectively (Costa et al 2014).

b) Barriers identified to effective performance within the BBC

Performance of any segment should be analyzed with the help of proper tools in order to be unbiased and depending upon the skills that are required for the specific job role. As BBC has several segments and teams in the process of operation the management of the performance have to different for different teams. In every organisation there are certain issues that act as an obstacle in the performance of the employees (Boermans et al., 2014). Some of the barriers that are identified in BBC are:

Unfavorable work culture among the employees is the main issue that has been identified as a barrier of performance. The people of the organisation are directly influenced by an unhealthy atmosphere which may also result in increasing employee turnover (Sandoff et al 2016).

Unreliable management and leaders are also an obstacle, the leaders of the teams have to supportive and encourage, they should also be approachable when the members the team is facing an issue or challenge. As the work culture of BBC was missing all this attributes the performance of the people were also being hampered.  

Another barrier in performance that has been recognized is the fact that there was a phase in the company where the management was ignorant towards the performance of the departments. Lack of monitoring and guidance is also a barrier in performance, regular meetings and performance management should be conducted regularly in order to keep the people in track with the performance.

When there is an absence in the transparency of the performance management of the company the people are bound to be skeptic increasing the lack of interest in the job and also lack of commitment towards the company (Mone & London, 2014).

Lack of feedback from the managers in terms of encouragement and motivation is a barrier in the performance and productivity level among the people. Aforementioned motivation is important factor in the performance of an employee, hence it is crucial to be implemented (Braun et al 2013).

Conclusion

BBC has been observed to go through several changes in the organisation to accommodate the solution to the issues and grievances of the employees. The company views the employees of the organisation as the ambassador of the company and hence they are of the prime focus. The company has faced a lot of criticism for organisational behavior in the past and is heading towards a change in the organisation to deal with these changes. Several changes in the organisation is brought about by the new director general Tony Hall and the HR department headed by Valerie Hughes-D’Aeth.

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