5CO01: CIPD Assignment Help Samples - Organisational Performance and Culture in Practice

5CO01 – Organisational Performance and Culture in Practice

This report covers organisational structure and culture and how the two concepts impact organisational practice and performance. The discussion mainly relates to Calmere House and its recent changes.

Question 1: AC 1.1 - Evaluate the Extent to Which the Flat Non-Hierarchical Structure was Appropriate under Kirsten’s Ownership and the Extent to Which the Hierarchical Bureaucratic Structure is Suitable under Chaffinch Group Ownership.

An organisational structure outlines how activities, roles, and power flow between various levels of the organisation (Nene and Pillay, 2019). There are several types of structures, including hierarchical and flat.

Flat Non-Hierarchical Structure

In a flat non-hierarchical structure, it is characterised by few levels between the workforce and the management (Bhatt and Gargeb, 2023). This structure promotes workforce involvement and is effective in fostering workplace relationships and employee engagement. Under Kirsten’s ownership, this structure was defined by consultative approach and involving the workforce in decision-making. In addition, all 42 employees reported directly to Kirsten; thus, reducing the number of reporting levels.

Evaluating this structure, its key benefits are that it promotes communication and engagement between the management and workforce. In addition, a flat non-hierarchical structure significantly reduced turnover (Vaara et al., 2021). The drawbacks of this structure is that there are few opportunities for workforce promotion and it can stunt growth. The applicability of this structure is more in smaller firms. In the case of Calmere House, the firm only had 42 employees, which shows the significance of applicability to smaller firms. The reliability can however be questioned. Despite its effectiveness in promoting workplace relationships and engagement, a flat non-hierarchical structure presents challenges in power struggle and it could be difficult to define how authority flows. This structure has a high validity as it promotes employee empowerment, collaboration, and communication.

Hierarchical Bureaucratic Structure

This type of structure involves organising the institution or firm into clear authority levels. Here, power flows from lowest to highest level (Wright, 2021). This creates a pyramid of power. The structure is demonstrated in Kath’s leadership and the entire Chaffinch Group approach. Kath reports to one of the 8 area managers who on the other hand report to one of two general managers. Some of the features describing this leadership approach is when Kath’s management is challenged and she reports that she knows what she is doing.

The merits of this structure are providing a clear authority in terms of power flow and enhances accountability. The resulting effects are that this streamlines the firm’s decision-making process and how directives are followed (Bersch and Fukuyama, 2023). The demerits are rigid decision-making and since employees are not involved in decision-making, this can affect working relationships and organisational performance. The applicability of this structure is higher in larger organisations and where there is need for clear authority lines and predictable processes. It is also highly reliable since it ensures accountability and consistency. However, there are concerns regarding the inflexibility, which may affect reliability in complex issues and in organisations that seek to achieve change.

Conclusion

In summary, the effectiveness of flat non-hierarchical structure is based on its applicability in smaller firms and how it promotes engagement and workplace relationships. The effectiveness of hierarchical structure is negatively influenced by rigidity and involvement of the workforce to decision-making.

Question 2: AC 1.2 – Analyse how Chaffinch Group Could use a Rational Approach to Strategy Formulation to Ensure that Services Provided Meet Customer Needs

An organisational strategy entails the roadmap towards a company achieving its goals and objectives (Opferkuch et al., 2021). The strategy identifies the plan and how resources will be managed to meet the company’s objectives. At Chaffinch Group, its need for strategy formulation is depicted by various goals including room refurbishments and the present goal of ensuring that it fills 100% of the resident rooms within six months. These objectives warrant an effective strategy, which is also tied to meeting customers’ needs, including quality and safety of respite care.

Chaffinch Group can consider applying the Rational Approach, which refers to a systematic and structured process that applies data, logic, and analysis to make informed decisions (Hughes and Davidson, 2022). In a rational approach, it involves setting SMART objectives, assessing the environment in both internal and external contexts, comparing strategies, and selecting the most suitable one. For Chaffinch Group, the rational approach can be applied with regards to its objective of attracting and retaining long-term residents. One of the frameworks that the firm can apply is SWOT, which helps in understanding internal and external factors affecting the organisation (Neolaka et al., 2023). An example of SWOT analysis for Chaffinch Group is as summarised in the figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Swot Analysis

To apply a rational approach, Chaffinch Group would first need to conduct a market analysis and evaluation. Through identifying the weaknesses, opportunities, and threats through data, the rational approach would then require the firm to engage apply the insights to formulate an effective approach (Gadzali et al., 2023). From the numerous potential strategies and opportunities, Chaffinch Group would need to formulate a step-by-step strategy through which it will attract and retain customers. Doing so needs to ensure that the strategy is tailored towards the customers’ expectations and needs. This implies the importance of engaging with customers to determine their expectations and how they can be met.

The advantages of rational approach include ensuring that the strategic approach is structured and data driven, which results in processes and options that will have favourable outcomes. The rational approach is also effective in promoting clarity and predictability (Rajagopal et al., 2022). On the downside, the rational approach can be slow due to the required data and may be affected by failure or inability to account for unexpected dynamics.

Question 3: AC 1.1 – Analyse one External Factor that is currently having a Negative Impact on the Residential Care Industry and One External Factor that is Currently Having a Positive Impact on the Residential Care Industry.

The Residential Care Industry offers long-term and personal support services for diverse individuals, including the aged and those with healthcare conditions. To understand the external factors, a suitable framework would be PESTLE, which reporesents six key elements as shown in figure 2 below.

Figure 2: PESTLE Analysis

External Factor with Negative Impacts

In the residential care industry, one of the key factors with negative implications is insufficient resources, which include diverse types, such as financial and human capital. Low financial resources can be explained from the economic dimension of PESTLE analysis while lack of sufficient human capital resources, including low staffing levels falls under social factors (Cavanagh et al., 2024). The implications of insufficient resources are lack of proper equipment and systems for residential care firms, burnout among the healthcare providers, and high turnover. At Calmere House, it is already being affected by staff burnout, which can be attributed to understaffing after the majority have left the firm and others have high absenteeism. Addressing inadequate resources issue requires an assessment of current factors and how they can be resolved, such as hiring more professionals (McArthur et al., 2021).

External Factor with Positive Impacts

A key factor with positive impacts is technology and particularly automation and the use of digital technologies. From the PESTLE analysis framework, this factor reflects on the significance of advanced technological approaches in promoting organisational efficiency and service delivery (Garner et al., 2024). For example, residential care facilities require advanced patient beds that have real-time monitoring and those that prevent fall. Also, these beds are AI-integrated, which helps in how patient vital signs are collected and reported. Calmere House implementing these technologies promotes their performance, efficiency, and increases the chance of retaining long-term residents. Through the technologies, patient safety issues and quality of outcome is assured, which improves performance, satisfaction and retention.

Analysing the technological factors, they are costly to implement although the leverage of quality and safety of patient outcome makes them important and essential to consider (Hamblin, 2022). In addition, these technologies improve efficiency but also introduce other challenges, including data protection and security. For the insufficient resources, understaffing and low finances would result in negative outcomes, including poor performance of the facilities and failure to meet patients’ needs.