Question
Case Study – Changing Times at the BBC
The BBC has been undergoing significant change in the past few years leading to an independent review in 2016 which found that there were some “serious failings in the BBC’s culture and its systems of communication, management and investigation” (Smith, 2016:32) at the time, with concerns around bullying and harassment or staff complaints not being listened to. Aside from this there have also been criticisms about the pay/gender gap between staff.
The organization had a new Director General in 2015 who has spearheaded, via the HR department, large scale re- organisation, leading to the development of a culture which now sees people “coming to work wanting to do the best they can” (Hughes-D’Aeth, 2017). Read the article in Appendices 1 and 2 and then carry out your own research on the subject and on the BBC, to answer the following questions.
Part 1
LO1: Analyse the influence of culture, politics and power on the behaviour of others in an organisational context
LO2: Evaluate how to motivate individuals and teams to achieve a goal
Task 1
How have the following affected behaviour of staff within the BBC in the recent past and today?:
- Organisational culture
- Power and political behaviour of managers
Tips: Your answer must refer to the case study and Smith Review (2016) findings and must also apply appropriate theories: Organisational culture e.g. Handy’s typology, Hofstede’s work, Deal and Kennedy; Power e.g. French and Raven’s power types; Political behaviour of managers e.g. Chanlat’s characteristics of such behaviour. Consider the more negative aspects of what happened in the past at the BBC and how behaviour and culture has changed, on the whole, for the better now, you may wish to refer to the BBCs values for further evidence (see Appendix 2).
Task 2
- It is important for the BBC to get the best out of its employees, both in an individual and a team capacity. Explain how content and process theories of motivation can help to achieve this.
Tips: You should avoid describing a theory or model – look at what the model/theory involves and make the link between this and individual and team effectiveness. You must refer to at least one content and one process theory in your answer. - How will improved levels of motivation within the BBC help to achieve its organisational goals?
Part 2
LO3: Demonstrate an understanding of how to cooperate effectively with others
LO4: Apply concepts and philosophies of organisational behaviour to a given business situation
Task 3
- 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.
- 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
- Using an appropriate organisational concept/theory (such as path-goal theory) suggest how team performance and productivity could be improved within the BBC.
- What have been the main barriers to effective performance within the BBC?
Answer
Introduction
Human resource is the driving force of an organization and hence it’s important to create a health working environment for the employees to flourish. This BBC Case Study reveals the effect of power, culture and politics on the behaviour of the managers and the productivity of the employees. BBC has been selected for this study as there was an occurrence of organizational issues in the recent times. Hence, it is the best issue to study the various aspects of motivational factors of the employees that delves into the analysis of the factors mentioned above.
