Report and Presentation

Introduction

The focus of this report is to examine the numerous factors and varied influences on a business, by analysing a UK-based organisation called the Phoenix Group. The reason that this organisation is being researched due to their 2018 acquisition of a new company, Standard Life Assurance.

In the month of September of 2018, the company had an acquisition, which expanded the number of workers to around 4,300, the company started to reorient its benefits so that everyone was treated fairly and put an emphasis on worker well-being in place. even though purchase of Standard Life Insurance was an integral part of the firm's long-term strategic growth strategy, it had a serious drawback in terms of guaranteeing a level and consistent workplace environment and advantages environment (employeebenefits.com). The report will look at leadership culture and structure of the professional environment in order to understand how they contribute to the wellness and well being of the employee. The second part of the document will look at the principles of team building, discuss its importance and discuss methods of team building which can be used to integrate the employees of The Phoenix Group.

Structure, Culture and Leadership: The Case of The Phoenix Group

In order to understand the well-being strategies that the company has in place for its employees, this section will look at the structural, cultural and leadership aspects of the Phoenix Group.

Leadership and Well Being

Work in large organisations is generally is generally done by managers and supervisors who manage and supervise people who initiate actions. the Goleman (2017) found that the climate of the organisation accounts for 60% of a corporation's financial results and is strongly linked to leadership in his study of 3,871 managers from 2,000 diverse companies. The result from Higgs (2006) to research shows that leadership explains almost half of the variance which is can turn an unsuccessful organisation into a successful one. A good leader has many responsibilities, which includes, but is not limited to, the ability to plan, direct, and motivate others to follow. Because of the manager's authority, they have a duty to provide the requisite staffing, as well as to inspire and control employees. One needs to be a good leader if they want to use your human and social skills in your relationships, and to exercise your judgement. What sets management apart from workers is the utilisation of people's human resources. The collaborative approach involves effective teamwork as well as the leadership and coordination of staff to ensure task and people success, this will be discussed in detail further on. Besides this can include heightened sensitivities and a great deal of flexibility when it comes to determining the right management approach (Mullins, 2007; Inceogu et al, 2018). In terms of this, the Phoenix Group has instituted a number of changes from the managerial position, whereby they have incorporated all the employees in the same health insurance plan and included all the employees in the private medical plan, which was earlier only accessible to the workers in managerial positions. Apart from that, the company leadership has decided to take care of the mental health of the employees too, by providing them with counselling sessions, should they need that (employeebenefits.com).

Culture of Workplace and The Phoenix Group

The workplace culture is an important component in the well being of an employee. The negative effects of daily stress can be destabilising, and stress can affect people's concentration, eye for detail, efficiency, and actions even if they don't take time off work (Kuoppala et al 2008). Teams who work in high-stress situations are less cohesive and more likely to make errors (Business in the Community 2009). As a result, fostering emotional strength in the work place will help to build healthy work environments, minimise absenteeism, strengthen teamwork, and motivate people (Sergeant and Law-Chapman, 2012).

The Phoenix Groups initiative in this respect encourages the existence of a healthy working environment, whereby they have initiated programmes like diversity programmes and inclusion agendas, whereby all the different socio-cultural groups in the office can feel included. Additionally, the organisation started a Women in Finance charter initiative in the office, the purpose of which was to encourage upwards mobility of female employees in the work place. The reason why the Women in Finance initiative is chosen in the context of cultural inclusion in the work place, is because it is too early to detect the positive structural effect it has had in the work place of The Phoenix Group. However, it is very likely that an initiative like this will be welcomed by the women working in those offices and will boost the morale of the women greatly, although there is no way to actually say if that is something which will end up giving tangible benefits (employeebenefits.com).

Organisational Structure, Leadership and Culture: The Context of The Phoenix Group

According to Robbins & Coulter (2005), organisational culture is defined as the common ideals, opinions, or expectations held by workers of an organisation or organisational unit. Organizational culture can affect workers attitudes and actions because it represents the ideals, opinions, and behavioural standards that workers of a company use to assign sense to the circumstances they experience. Berson and Linton (2005) discovered that a manager's leadership behaviour is closely linked to employee job satisfaction in the research and innovation and organizational environments. According to Nielsen et al (2008), leadership behaviour and job satisfaction are dependent on the organisational context; thus, another aim of this study was to determine how the administrator's leadership behaviour in various organisational cultures influences job satisfaction. They argue that the structure of the company influences the culture of the company and vice-versa. Of course, the structure the company is completely dependent on the employees who are working in the company and the leaders who manage them. In the case of The Phoenix Group, the culture of the company is being changed to become more inclusive. The most pertinent form of strategy which is being employed by the company are social initiatives which are in the formal professional purview. The culture is being made more informal and relaxed through leisure activity times and giving the opportunity for the workers to know each other apart from being professional colleagues too. Again, the critique that comes up is regarding symbolic measures of the corporate action that is taken versus the practical implications of it (employeebenefits.com).

The belief that can guide workers in understanding what needs to be done and what doesn't need to be done, namely habits, principles, and expectations about their job, is described as organisational culture (Staniland, 1985). An organization's core values start with its management, which then evolves into a leadership style. These principles, as well as the actions of politicians, will guide subordinates, causing both parties' behaviour to become more aligned. A strong corporate culture occurs when strong cohesive behaviour, ideals, and principles have been established. Leaders must recognise their role in preserving an organization's culture. As a result, members of the company will behave consistently, reducing tensions and providing a safe working atmosphere for workers (Kane-Urabazzo, 2006).

Office workers who believe their employers are compassionate and caring have higher job satisfaction. A supportive boss shares beliefs, agrees in an equilibrium of authority, and encourages direct communication with his or her employees (Wade et al, 2008), which decreases the likelihood of internal disputes. This style of leader is effective in his or her capacity and is respectful and attentive to the office staff, maintaining authority and prestige within the working environment. Such representatives are respected in the community and have executive authority to do as they see fit to improve the professional environment (Sullivan-Havens and Aiken, 1999). As a result, they have quite a significant effect on worker morale and work satisfaction (Valda, 2003).

In the case of The Phoenix Group, it is yet to be seen what kind of office culture is created because of the merger. The overall initiatives which have been taken by the management in making sure that the employees who previously belonged to the other office do not feel that they are being left out or they are being disadvantaged, either professionally or culturally. Hence, measuring the employee satisfaction is of the paramount importance as employees will be able to tell in greater detail the advantages and disadvantages of working in that particular professional environment. Hence, The Phoenix Group needs to add an element of measuring satisfaction of the employees in the working environment as a part of their professional inclusion and diversity programmes.

Team Building and Effectiveness

Teams assist an organisation by assisting in the successful implementation of action plans, integrating plans, and increasing the degree of ambition in order to further define the corporate strategy and goal statements. The value will be seen in the success levels, and the team's productivity can improve. As a result, an organization's seamless operation cannot be achieved solely by the employment of individual workers. Teamwork contributes significantly to corporate effectiveness and, in the long run, will ensure its long-term viability (Yuki, 2002).

There are a lot of theories which explain motivation and which allows us to understand why individuals behave the way that they do. The sections in this part of the report will explain some of these motivation theories and judge how effective they are.

Maslow’s Theory of Motivation

Abraham Maslow (1943), a philosopher, proposed a philosophy in which people are compelled to meet five fundamental needs. These requirements are ordered in a logical order. According to Maslow, we should prioritise meeting the most basic needs. After that, we aim to meet each higher degree of need before all five needs have been met. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Theory continues to be a vital and straightforward motivating method for managers to consider and incorporate, despite some flaws in recent science, such as a lack of scientific support for some assumptions. There are five levels of needs, which can be described as physiological needs, which include simple survival problems such as pay and a steady job, security needs, which include topics like insurance, pensions, a healthy work atmosphere, and equal work conditions, as well as a sense of belonging, which includes social acceptance issues like friendship and teamwork on the job. self-actualization needs, that are success issues such as career control, difficult jobs, and subject matter specialist position on the job, and esteem needs, which are good self-image and appreciation and acceptance issues such as job names, pleasant work environments, and coveted job assignments (Tanner, 2015; McLeod, 2007). The Phoenix Group needs to ensure that its employees have enough to fulfil their physical needs, which can be ensured through providing them with a salary which fluid their basic needs, and then they will be able to move onto the other needs.

Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory

Herzberg's Theory of Inspiration seeks to understand what motivates people in the workplace. This idea will assist managers in understanding how to get the best results from their teams. Motivating factors and hygiene considerations are the two factors found by Herzberg. Employees perform better while there are motivators present. They can be found within the scope of the work. Employees can work less hard if sanitation considerations are absent. Hygiene variables do not exist in the work itself, but they do exist in the environment. A work must provide an individual with a feeling of accomplishment. This would give you the satisfaction of accomplishing something tough but worthwhile. The following are the factors which positively encourage motivation in workers, either individually or in teams (worldofwork.io;

expertprogrammemanagement.com)

Accolades: Employees must be praised and recognised for their accomplishments in their employment. This acknowledgement should originate from both managers and colleagues.

The job itself: The work must be fascinating, varied, and challenging enough to keep workers engaged.

Ownership: Employees should take ownership of their jobs. They should keep themselves accountable for the execution of this task rather than feeling micromanaged.

Promotion: The person should have the opportunity to advance.

Growth: Employees should be able to learn new things as part of their work. This may occur in the workplace or by more formal education.

In order to motivate the team workers at The Phoenix Group, the managers and owners have to effectively understand that intrinsically, these are the factors which help employees stay loyal to a company and realised their full potential.

Team Effectiveness and The Phoenix Group

An participant must have a skill (in the context of trying to execute an action) that leads to the success of the collective goal in order to be a team member. Real or simulated agents may be part of the team. Between simulated and real agents, there is no clear difference. These activities can be restricted to planning, strategy determination, coordination, and computing in the case of virtual agents. Hence, team effectives arises from having a collective goal in the first place (Hexmoor and Beavers, 2002). In the context of The Phoenix Group, it is an important time for them to consider defining the goals of their organisation and if they are already defined, they must be elucidated once more for the benefit of the new employees.

In case of The Phoenix Group, team effectiveness can be characterised by employees putting aside their personal issues and working together to form a team. This setting aside of personal problems and issues is an approach of team effectiveness which has been put forward by Kozlowski and Klein (2000) and James and Jones (1976).

Conclusion

The report looked at the various factors which could aid The Phoenix Group in establishing a positive culture in the work place and particularly taking note of the style of leadership that is used in the office. A significant thing to keep in mind is that the structure, culture and leadership of a company is significantly interlinked, and in the case of The Phoenix Group, special attention needs to be paid to the these aspects as the company is going through structural, cultural and leadership changes. In this regard, understanding and implementing effective team strategies is a method which needs to be used by the company. The company needs to ensure that through providing basic needs through salaries and benefits, it allows their employees to grow further as it will allow them to pursue needs to develop themselves personally and professionally. Additionally, the workers need to be recognised, given ownership of and be taught new things in order to keep their loyalty.

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References

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Speaker Notes

The presentation that you’ll see today is about team effectiveness and motivational theories in the context of The Phoenix group. The presentation will discuss some of the motivational and team building aspects that the company can employ in its daily operations.

Slide 1: The roles of the teams are extremely important to the daily functioning of the organisation, and they support the existence of the organisation in many ways. ​With the merger of the Phoenix Group, it needs to take greater care in terms of making sure the merged teams work effectively with each other and there is no professional or socio-cultural areas of tension.

Slide 2: One of the theories which explains motivations is Maslow’s theory of needs. Physiological needs, that include basic subsistence issues like pay and a stable career, welfare needs, which include things like insurance, pensions, a safe work environment, and fair employment conditions, and a feeling of connection, which promotes public acceptance issues like cooperation and cooperation on the job, are the five types of needs. confidence needs, which are positive self-image and recognition and approval issues such as role names, fun work conditions, and coveted job assignments, and self-actualization needs, which are achievement issues such as career control, challenging careers, and subject matter expert status on the job.

Slide 3: This is how the theory can be visually pictured.

Slide 4: Herzberg’s two factor theory spoke of two forces: motivating factors and sanitation concerns. When there are motivators involved, employees work well. Within the framework of the project, they can be identified. Employees can operate less efficiently if hygiene concerns, that are, factors which is absent may unmotivated the employee, are not addressed. Workplace hygiene factors do not exist, but they do exist in the climate. An individual's work must give them a sense of achievement. This will provide you with the satisfaction of completing a difficult but worthwhile task. The five factors which motivates people are the accolades they receive, the nature of the job and whether or not they find it interesting, whether or not they establish ownership over their job, their chances of promotion and their scope for growth.

Slide 5: There are mainly two important components to team effectiveness in The Phoenix Group. Firstly, it must define or redefine the goals of its company, for the benefit of the new employees. Secondly, it must make sure that employees in their professional space employees put aside their personal issues and work collectively as a team in the company. This will ensure there is no gaps left in the successful joining together of the two companies which makes up The Phoenix Group.