HRM742 A7W

Written Assignment 2

For Written Assignment 2, the five (5) topics to be covered, and subjected to

analysis are:

1. Organizational Design and Structure (Advantages/Disadvantages).

Ans: The present organizational structure at Horvath is a geographical divisional

structure that is top-heavy. At Horvath Foods, Bob has made sure the geographical lead

has reported in to him, and this process has been continued post the sale. When Bob

gave promotions, it was because he liked the person, not because the person had

showcased skills and qualities necessary to do the role. This has led to standardized

promotion process not in place, people being given responsibilities and not being able

to handle them due to inadequate skills and training, no formal succession plans in

place, and no clear growth paths for employees.

Some advantages of this structure are:

a. Decision making is handled by execs, and the rest of the staff are free to

implement quickly

b. There is minimal interruption to set processes

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 c. Staff who have good relations with the execs have a higher chance of getting

promoted

Some disadvantages of this structure are:

a. Well-skilled staff are overlooked for key roles where they may excel in

b. Employee dissatisfaction increases due to poor growth opportunities

c. Poor innovation as staff are not involved in the decision-making process at all -

they may be able to identify possible issues or faster ways to achieve the results.

While the existing process has led to immense growth for the organization, processes

need to be updated to reflect present work culture innovation and improvements. In

order to continue with the same kind of growth (or maybe more), Horvath foods has to

invest in the growth of its employees - and this needs to happen in a phased manner, to

ensure all staff get equal opportunities for growth.

Some ways Horvath Foods can improve are:

a. Immediate changes

● Introduce career paths and growth plans for staff across all levels in the

company. Link these to performance assessments, so every time

assessments are completed, possible candidates for growth are identified

and they can be trained further.

● Introduce a team-based structure by implementing succession planning

and growth plans for all staff, which are dependant on performance and

skills.

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 b. Long-term changes

● Identify how pools of suitable candidates can be created on a consistent

basis to plan for the future growth of the organization

2. Conflict (Evidence and effect of conflict in the organization and how it is handled).

Ans: There is no set process at Horvath Foods to resolve relationship conflict. When

Bob Horvath was the CEO, due to his nature, major conflicts would have been quickly

resolved by him. Minor conflicts would not have been raised as they would have been

resolved informally as they happened. Since Bob’s executive team had similar work

ethics as Bob, there was no action taken on introducing due processes, as task conflicts

too did not arise. Also, Bob was against unions and has even shut down plants if there

was a possibility of Unionization. This indicates disbelief in other set processes and the

possibility of being held accountable by others. Since Bob sold Horvath Foods to

someone with a similar working style, the old process has continued as of date.

Some advantages of continuing things as they are:

a. Employees and Management maintain harmony by keeping in place old

processes (as changes can be hard to accept)

b. Time spent investigating conflicts can be invested elsewhere

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 c. Better decision making as they are able to resolve conflicts as they happen and

move on

d. Energizes people to debate issues and evaluate alternatives more thoroughly

Major disadvantages of leaving this process as-is are:

a. Increased stress, dissatisfaction and turnover in the organization

b. Decrease in productivity as time is spent in conflicts

c. Reduction of information sharing between teams/ employees due to conflicts can

lead to minimal innovation and improvement

d. Politics in the workplace increases - which may (and in all probability will) lead to

biased decision making

e. Conflict between two team members can negatively impact the effectiveness of

the entire team

f. Any conflict wastes resources as they can otherwise be used - here resources

indicate time, effort and money

g. Reduced/ negligible innovation in teams

Now, this system of relationship conflict management may have worked in the past, but

it does not take into account employee rights at all and hinders effective organizational

management. Employees have the right to a workplace free from harassment, and

conflicts can, at times, lead to harassment. Inadequate or improper conflict resolution

can adversely impact employee morale, increase turnover, as well as negatively impact

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the market standing of Horvath Foods. This can impact future growth and business to a

great extent.

Some ways Horvath Foods can improve are by introducing some:

a. Immediate changes

● Introduce a robust conflict resolution policy for staff. This should indicate

how a complaint can be made, how it should be investigated, how an

inference should be drawn from the investigation, what are the next steps,

does any corrective action need to be taken and closure of the complaint

resolution process, as well as mention all applicable laws.

● All staff should be trained on the above policy, as well as encouraged to

work towards resolving conflict rather than ignoring it.

● A similar policy needs to be made for staff to handle external complaints.

Specific employees can be tasked with jointly investigating external

complaints, taking into account applicable laws and rules.

● All complaints should be documented - regardless of whether it required a

complete investigation or not.

b. Long-term changes

● If and when a Union represents staff, clear procedures need to be set in

place for conflict resolution. It may need any existing complaint resolution

process to be separated - for unionized and non-unionized staff

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 ● Any policies and processes need to be regularly revised and updated at

regular timelines (maybe biannually) to ensure processes take into

account existing laws and rules

● Regular training sessions should be conducted for all staff on a consistent

basis - making this an annual practice will help.

References:

Exhibit 11.1, pg 307,

Exhibit 11.2, Pg 311

3. Leadership Style (Leadership style of the key leaders).

Ans: Bob’s leadership style was dictatorial in style. He ran a tight ship with his exec

team supporting him with execution of his decisions. This style was in favour many

years back, where it was believed that if someone owned an organization, they took all

the decisions. The rest of the staff would just execute these decisions. Since the exec

team has matched Bob’s work style since long, they are continuing in this tradition.

Some advantages of continuing things as they are:

a. No impact on day-to-day business and output as staff are not impacted by a

change

b. Decisions continue to be made by the new CEO and the exec team, so others do

not need to be trained

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Major disadvantages of this process are:

a. No innovation as staff are not part of any decision-making process

b. No skill enhancement for staff so they can grow within the organization

c. Low morale and dissatisfaction among employees due to poor growth prospects

d. Bias in promotions of certain staff members over others - opens up the

organization to legal troubles.

Horvath Foods needs to move with the times. While such methods worked in the past,

newer work cultures and organizational styles need to be introduced to pave the way for

growth.

Some ways Horvath Foods can improve internal Leadership Styles are:

a. Immediate changes

● Introduce processes where employees are able to provide feedback

before decisions are taken. This can be done by setting up task groups to

collect ideas for growth across varied departments (since Horvath already

has departmentalized its business) and feeding those ideas upwards to

exec for deliberation and decision

● Reward employees for successful ideas - this will lead to competition

among employees for better ideas and growth, leading to increased

productivity

● Introduce a proper succession planning programme for all employees, to

ensure the sudden departure of any exec will not leave the organization

vulnerable at any stage

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 b. Long-term changes

● Refresh and revamp the succession planning program to match market

needs and expansion plans. Positions that may not exist presently may

need extended work when introduced, to make them sustainable for future

growth

● Move from managerial leadership to transformative leadership - know your

people and learn what they need to perform productively.

● Make sure growth paths are free from biases and based on performance

and skills to ensure there are no gender gaps or pay inequities at later

dates.

4. Organizational Culture (Culture(s) within the organization and the effect of the

culture(s) on organization performance).

Ans: The organizational culture at Horvath Foods has been put in place by Bob’s hard

work in setting up the organization. He started small, but as he grew the business, he

ensured that he had an all-encompassing overview and final control stayed with him.

This meant he retained decision-making capacity and delegated only the execution to

his exec teams, who further delegated it to their teams. This led to creating silos within

the organization which has not encouraged innovation in the organization.

Some advantages of continuing with this structure are:

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 a. Employees are working in roles that they are used to, so there is minimal

disruption to processes and workflow

b. The Execs are well-versed in decision making and handling organizational

challenges

c. The organization continues to work with traditional culture and will probably be

counted among the few that hold on to old work cultures

Some disadvantages of this structure are:

a. Horvath Foods risks losing its employees to competitors who would offer them

better working conditions, growth prospects, better remuneration as well as

benefits

b. The execs too can be poached by competitors who can pay for their skills and

knowledge, leaving Horvath Foods without effective leadership and any

successors in place

c. With many American companies adopting new and updated cultures by changing

their culture, not moving with the times may mean the closure of Horvath Foods

without enough innovation and growth.

Some ways Horvath Foods can improve are by introducing some:

a. Immediate changes

● Introduce succession planning

● Identify high performers and start grooming them for positions with

increased responsibility

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 ● Bring in an organizational consultant to identify what changes are required

and how to implement these changes effectively

b. Long-term changes

● Implement changes suggested by the organizational consultant

● Fix timelines to review processes on a regular basis to ensure

organizational changes are reviewed and updated every couple of years

5. Organizational Change (Analyze any significant change – current changes being

implemented; a recent change already implemented; changes being contemplated

for the future).

Ans: The most recent change to Impact Horvath Foods significantly was the sale to the

American company. Since this was unexpected, right now, the company is in turmoil

due to the sale. No one, even the execs, know what changes may happen. They know

that the new CEO has a similar working style to Bob’s, but the challenge they are facing

is the introduction of different work cultures. While existing processes definitely need an

overhaul, changing organizational structure entirely will cause huge upheaval. Another

change, albeit smaller, which the organization faced was Bob’s tenure as CEO ending

and his retirement. While it may have been overshadowed by the sale of the

organization, the exit of someone who has created the company into a giant corporation

will impact every single person in the organization.

Some ways Horvath Foods can prepare for future changes are:

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 a. Put in place strong processes to manage change which would work as guidelines

for future changes

b. Identify departments that initially get impacted and by what type of change - for

example, exec movements would impact entire departments, manager

departures would impact only their direct teams but other managers would need

to take up the slack.

c. Create strong teams which can pivot as required and duplicate skills as needed

d. Groom strong performers for lateral growth, not just upward growth. This means

they can easily be moved laterally if need arises.

Reference:

Canadian Organizational Behaviour, 10th Edition, McShane

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