Analysis of experience: Clifford and Chance

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Motivation and organisational culture
Components of organizational culture
Employee motivation and its relation to culture
Conclusion
Reference List

Introduction

Organisations consist of different individuals that deal with disparate aspects that institutions require in order to increase profitability and ensure the smooth running of operations. In order to ensure there is order in the performance of every day tasks, most institutions set up an administrative hierarchy.

The essence of the hierarchy is to facilitate a concise flow of commands from the top management to the lowest ranking employees and accountability and responsibility by every individual. However, certain issues arise regarding the execution of commands and the effects they have on the organisation.

For instance, leaders have to ensure the fulfilment of a company’s goals through their actions at the work place and their formulae for decision-making and governance. Employees play their part in the productivity of a company by ensuring that their work is of high quality and that it is done in time and in accordance with the leaders’ instructions.

This essay looks at issues regarding organisational culture, motivation, and teamwork coupled with the importance that each of these aspects bears in an organisation in relation to success and fulfilment of company goals.

It explains some of the theories that contribute to these subjects and looks at the practical implications of these theories in relation to the every day operations of a company using Clifford Chance, a law firm based in London, as a case study.

Motivation and organisational culture

According to Friedman (2002), it is the moral obligation of every business to make profits. Various individuals working at a company in their different capacities thus have to ensure that their roles contribute to the overall productivity of the company.

The task of ensuring that the company’s productivity remains high without compromising on the welfare of the employees and the organisation’s culture lies with the manager and at times this task may prove to be complex. One of the difficulties that the situation creates is the formulation of a form of balance between the three elements (Montana & Chernov 2005).

However, various theories aid in the understanding of concepts that contribute to the creation of balance. In essence, the theories provide guidelines to effective management through the creation of an effective manager.

It is worth noting that the theories suggest that effective management is not an inherent ability, but one that develops over time through the application of various tools such as self-evaluation and intentional change to behavioural patterns.

Components of organizational culture

The culture of an organisation develops over time from the frequency and manner in which individuals at the organisation conduct their activities. For instance, at Clifford Chance, the standard time at which employees report to work is 7 a.m. Every person is required to meet his or her deadline and provide reasons after failing to meet the postulated requirements.

There are also designated breaks for coffee during the day and lunch in the afternoons. The usual closing time for business is 5 pm, which means that clients need to seek assistance from the firm before the designated time. This scenario underscores the traditional routine for the company and it has been so for several years.

However, the employees have developed various alterations to these norms that have become part of the organisation’s culture. For instance, although most employees in various companies require payment for jobs done past closing time, it is normal to find employees at this law firm working late into the night to beat deadlines at no extra pay.

It is also very normal to find employees working on projects during their lunch and coffee breaks or attending to clients past the closing hours as long as the clients arrive before 5pm. These activities form part of a culture at the company that improves productivity and builds the reputation of the company as a zealous institution to its clients (Parker 2000).

Employee motivation and its relation to culture

In order to achieve dedication such as that which employees at Clifford Chance exhibit, the management has to ensure that the employees feel motivated and that they view their work as relevant (Kotter 1992). This aspect forms part of the social skills that Daniel Goleman discusses in his theory on emotional intelligence as an integral part of effective and efficient management practices.

According to Goleman, an effective manager should have the ability to socialise with his or her employees and develop relationships that make them feel important to the company and their works seem relevant (Goleman 1998). As an aspect of this ability, the manager needs to ensure that the employees are properly motivated.

Some of the means most managers can apply is establishing reward systems that recognise and reward hard working employees while motivating others to improve on the quality of their work (Bruce & Pepitone 1998). At Clifford Chance, the main reward system is the award of limited-period allowances and bonuses whenever employees seal great deals, constantly present quality work, or ensure client satisfaction.

Therefore, even though working overtime does not warrant extra pay, the possibility of getting a reward keeps employees motivated. Another means of motivation is the meting out punishments to employees who constantly do substandard work, ignore, or refuse to follow instructions.

This move is more of a preventive measure and works by deterring employees from breaking the rules set by the company through the code of conduct or norms that have developed over the years. It also keeps the productivity of the company in check by requiring employees to maintain certain standards as far as work quality is concerned.

Another tool that effective managers use to ensure that the motivation levels at the work place remain substantially high is through the maintenance of organisational culture. The importance of such culture in the company is that it prescribes appropriate behaviour in specific situations.

Therefore, it creates predictability to actions, which makes it easier for people in the organisation to react ‘appropriately’ to various circumstances. The culture involves habits, norms, language, and beliefs.

It affects the way employees interact with each other, the management, clients, and shareholders at the work place (Caroselli 2000). Drastic changes to these aspects might affect the motivation of employees and create hostility in the work environment especially against the manager if the employees are against such changes.

According to Schein (1992), organisational culture is very difficult to change, as often it is part of the identifying features of a company. For instance, at the law firm, employees usually get a twenty-minute tea break.

If the manager were to scrap the break off the timetable on the basis that the majority of the employees work through the break, without consulting with the employees, it is bound to result in a decline in motivation and the generation of hostility towards the manager. One of the reasons for this outcome is that it is difficult for people to adapt to drastic change without any kind of preparation.

Another reason, and perhaps the most important, is because the employees would view the move as a violation of their rights or undermining their freedom. The decision to work through the break is personal and not mandatory and thus the employees would view the manager’s act as an indication of hostility or disregard for their welfare.

Studying different theories on organisational culture would allow a manager to understand the implications that his or her actions have and make the appropriate decisions depending on the circumstances. Using a friendlier approach such as consulting with the employees before making such drastic decisions would yield better results by creating more work time without interfering with the motivation of the employees.

However, in as much as it is important for the manager to keep employees happy, it is his or her main role to ensure that the company heads towards the direction of its goals through enhancement of productivity. This assertion means that sometimes, the manager may be required to make quick decisions at the risk of making employees unhappy.

An example of such a situation, using the case study, is instances when the company gets matters that require urgent attention such as new evidence in a case whose hearing date is not so far. In such cases, the manager may have to ask some of employees to work late into the night regardless of whether they had made prior plans for the evening.

Another instance that would lead to such authoritative decision making is one where there are deadlines to beat, but the company is short-staffed. The manager may have to ask all employees to work over time to ensure that the upholding of the company’s productivity and reputation.

However, as part of his role, the manager has to ensure that the employees understand the reasons for such decisions and assure them that their contribution to the company is essential and remind them that it is also part of their duty to ensure the company remains productive for their own benefit (Modaff, DeWine & Butler 2011).

Helping the employees to understand the situation ensures that the possibility of hostility is negated and that the work environment remains friendly.

Job designs also matter in the determination of how habitable the work environment can be. It is the duty of an efficient manager to ensure that every employee gets a reward for his or her work through non-monetary means such as job rotation, job simplification, and job enrichment (Podomoroff 2005).

The essence of a good job design is to facilitate the creation of a mechanism that ensures that the employee does not feel stuck or experience monotony or alienation at the work place.

Although it is advisable to give people tasks that they are good at, it is also good, occasionally, to challenge individuals by giving them tasks that are outside their comfort zone. For instance, job rotation is a great way of ensuring that the learning process at the work place is continuous and that the employees get to try out new challenges and test the limits of their abilities.

It is through these initiatives that people get to display abilities that are not necessarily in their resume. Such abilities may benefit the company in terms of productivity.

An example of such a design is the rotational method used at Clifford Chance whereby employees with experience in litigation and those with experience in research switch positions so that each set of individuals understands the dynamics involved in the different fields.

Job simplification involves the use of assistants where necessary to reduce the workload that a given individual handles. Interns provide a good source of such assistance. Interns use the process to learn from experts while reducing the amount of work the experts have to do through division of tasks. The outcome is an increase in productivity and maintenance of motivation for the employees while keeping the input costs low.

Conclusion

Order is important in any organisation, especially in the fulfilment of the organisation’s goals. It is the role of a company or an organisation’s leader to ensure that every individual does his or her bit to contribute to the success of the company in different capacities by producing quality work and following the company protocols.

The manager thus has to ensure that his or her subordinates are adequately motivated and happy with the work environment. This aspect involves using tools such as reward programs, maintaining the culture at the work place, and ensuring that the employees have prior knowledge of any drastic changes in the culture.

However, issues such as the independence of the manager and his/her ability to make quick and discrete decisions for the sake of the company’s productivity come into question, thus necessitating the need for prioritisation of issues in the company. Various theories help in the explanation of these concepts and the case study provided an analysis of the application and relevance of the theories projected in the paper.

Reference List

Bruce, A & Pepitone, J1998, Motivating employees, McGraw Hill, New York.

Caroselli, M 2000, Leadership Skills for Managers, McGraw Hill, New York.

Friedman, M 2002, Capitalism and Freedom: Fortieth Anniversary Edition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Goleman, D 1998, Working with Emotional Intelligence, Jossey Press, San Francisco.

Kotter, J 1992, Corporate Culture and Performance, The Free Press, New York.

Modaff, P, DeWine, S & Butler, J 2011, Organisational Communication: Foundations, Challenges and Misunderstanding, Pearson Education, Boston.

Montana, P & Chernov, B 2005, Management, 4th edn, Barrons Educational Series, New York.

Parker, M 2000, Organisational Culture and Identity, Sage, London.

Podomoroff, D 2005, 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day: With Little or No Money, Atlantic Publishing Company, Florida.

Schein, E 1992, Organisational Culture and Leadership: A Dynamic View, Jossey Bass, San Francisco.

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