Organizational Behaviour Case Study
Organizational Behavior
Option A
Cases: Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Service
Part 1)
The field of Organizational Behavior is one that is very important when it comes to
managing people and to make them work effectively. This begins with training. In
order to understand these cases it is important to look at both the structure and
environment of the company. In the case of the Automation in the Book Store, the
company is a medium sized bookstore. Because this company is a bookstore with
very few employees there is not a high level of formalization, less specialization and
less authority. Therefore, it has an organic structure. Employees don't have a lot
procedures and rules that they must abide by while doing their jobs. In fact the initial
company policy required employees to stay with the customer they were serving from
the time they walked into the store until the sale was made. Also, there was not a
great deal of standardization in that there was not a set procedure on how employees
did their work, rather it was a freer organization because there were very few
employees and this resulted in greater flexibility. These facts all changed once the
new computer system was implemented. This system presented employees with some
degree of formalization and standardization in their jobs because now there were
precise rules and procedures on how to deal with customers. This includes entering
an ID number every time a sale was made and closing the store with the system.
Also, because this bookstore was not use to high levels of formalization in the past,
the implementation of the training program was affected. There were no instructions
on how to close at the end of the day in training. The manager had to come in and
prepare a hand-written set of instructions about this routine. This is a sign of bad
design and implementation. Also, because the company is more centralized than
decentralized, the management must follow
Option A
Cases: Automation in the Book Store and The Night Owl Answering Service
Part 1)
The field of Organizational Behavior is one that is very important when it comes to
managing people and to make them work effectively. This begins with training. In
order to understand these cases it is important to look at both the structure and
environment of the company. In the case of the Automation in the Book Store, the
company is a medium sized bookstore. Because this company is a bookstore with
very few employees there is not a high level of formalization, less specialization and
less authority. Therefore, it has an organic structure. Employees don't have a lot
procedures and rules that they must abide by while doing their jobs. In fact the initial
company policy required employees to stay with the customer they were serving from
the time they walked into the store until the sale was made. Also, there was not a
great deal of standardization in that there was not a set procedure on how employees
did their work, rather it was a freer organization because there were very few
employees and this resulted in greater flexibility. These facts all changed once the
new computer system was implemented. This system presented employees with some
degree of formalization and standardization in their jobs because now there were
precise rules and procedures on how to deal with customers. This includes entering
an ID number every time a sale was made and closing the store with the system.
Also, because this bookstore was not use to high levels of formalization in the past,
the implementation of the training program was affected. There were no instructions
on how to close at the end of the day in training. The manager had to come in and
prepare a hand-written set of instructions about this routine. This is a sign of bad
design and implementation. Also, because the company is more centralized than
decentralized, the management must follow