This essay will show an analysis of the organisational behaviour issues that have occurred in Birmingham Fitness Gym. It will focus on the effect of adopting bureaucratic structure, the impact of employees’ individual personalities and lack of motivation of the workforce on the functioning of this organisation.
Advantages and disadvantages of bureaucracy
Bureaucratic structures implementation at BFGym has various negative effects on the functioning of the organisation. According to Max Weber’s (1958) original view, the iron cage of bureaucracy is a consequence of introducing formal elements of rational organisations design (King & Lawley, 2016, p. 32) and likewise, the feeling of stagnation was reported by several employees, who have been assigned fixed routine classes. Another drawback of bureaucratic practices, which can be seen in Jane’s case, is that they restrict managers’ efforts to facilitate individual initiative (Bolin & Ha ̈renstam, 2008) and they may suppress individuals’ creativity (Hirst et al., 2011). The instructors were provided with standardised training programmes, to which only the managers can make amendments, thereby leaving no room for the trainers’ individual initiative. Moreover, introducing the agreed upon set of classes may result in diminishing the level of skill required to perform a job (Taylor, 1911) and effectively discouraging the staff from further self-development. In Nick’s case we can also notice lack of impersonal fairness (du Gay, 2000), which is said to be one of the advantages of bureaucracy. Although formal procedures implementation is meant to bring about equality in the way workers are treated (King & Lawley, 2016, p. 61), it is not the case with Nick, who is always left with the worst classes time slots.
In spite of clear drawbacks of bureaucratic structures application at BFGym, there also are several benefits. It is important to outline the role of formalization in enabling the organisation to grow in scale. It is the application of Taylor’s (1911) scientific management methods that stands behind decreasing the duration of classes and adequately, making the gym able to facilitate a growing number of customers. The hierarchic organisational structure with control flowing from a strict chain of command (Wronka-Pospiech & Frackiewicz-Wronka, 2016) is also not to remain uncredited for its contribution to maintain BFGym’s manageability and order within the company.
Personality impact on one’s behaviour
Examining Kate’s, Philip’s and Jo’s personalities using the Big Five Model (McCrae & Costa, 1990, 1996), we can notice, that all three of them evince a rather high level of conscientiousness. Workers with this very factor of personality are predisposed to be more diligent and organised, and thus, more likely to correctly perform a task and stay committed to work performance (Witt et al., 2002). Personality research has also proved conscientiousness to be the most consistent and universal predictor of job performance (Barrick et al., in press), although it is the combination of conscientiousness and agreeableness that characterises the most effective workers (Witt et al, 2002). Both Kate, who wishes to maintain a good atmosphere at the gym, and Jo, who despite her loss of autonomy agrees with the changes management makes to her classes, seem to be highly agreeable and cooperative. It is the fair level of tolerance and flexibility that allows Jo to adapt and lead classes for large groups, in spite of her introversion. According to Keirsey’s (1998) temperament sorter, there is a strong connection between extroversion and “the teacher” personality type. Interestingly the same temperament features, but in a rather introvert dimension are considered to evince “the counsellor” personality. We can here notice the connection between Jo’s preference for the one-on-one sessions, where she could give all her attention to the trainee, rather than large group classes. It is the impact of introversion on her personality that makes social situations drain her of energy (Myers, 1962). Conversely, Philip has an extroverted temperament, which allows him to thrive on interaction with other people and gain energy from doing so (Myers, 1962). The conversion of staff breakout space into another workout room has strongly influenced the quality of social interaction he got and effected in the feeling of discouragement being reported.
Lack of motivation among BFGym’s employees
According to progress theories of motivation, what motivates an individual is subjective and changeable (King & Lawley, 2016), therefore a factor, which incentives one person, might not have the same effect on another. On this account, we cannot outline a single reason behind the lack of BFGym’s staff motivation. In the case of Nick, the cause for diminishing motivation seems to be a sense of inferiority. His situation applies well to Adam’s (1963) equity theory, in which he states that individuals compare themselves with others and depending on the value of the rewards, become either motivated or unmotivated. Nick’s evaluation of the classes time slots of other instructors, led him to the conclusion that he was treated unfairly, which effectively resulted in lowering his motivation for work. Lack of incentive in Jo’s and Jane’s performance seems to have a relatively similar background. As a loss of autonomy and an underestimation of competence were reported in their cases, they both appear to comply well with Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, nd). Researchers’ findings have led to the postulate of competence, autonomy and relatedness being the three innate psychological needs, which when satisfied have enhanced self-motivation and mental health (Ryan & Deci, nd). They also found that the same three needs can lead to diminished motivation and well-being if thwarted (Ryan & Deci, nd), therefore we can here seek the reasons for Jo’s and Jane’s discouragement. Octaviannand’s et al. (2017) recent studies have shown that high job satisfaction and motivation leads to a better performance of employees and accordingly, low job satisfaction and motivation leads to decreased employee performance. For BFGym, the poor performance of employees could effect in delivering lower quality services and, as a result, lower customer satisfaction and a decrease in the number of customers.
This essay analysed the impact of bureaucratic structure, individual personalities and the lack of employees’ motivation on functioning of BFGym.
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