ICOM
- A study on leadership and feedback within a communication company
Bachelor thesis within Business Administration Author: Camilla Englund
Linnéa Hallberg Anna Wredenberg Tutor: Mona Ericson Jönköping May 2010
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our gratitude to ICOM for the cooperation during our research for this thesis. A special thanks to all of the interviewees for devoting their time to help our research.
We also want to express a special thanks to our contact person at ICOM, Christina Stenberg.
Finally, we also want to express our gratefulness to our tutor Mona Ericson for her wise guidelines, expertise and support throughout the process of creating our thesis.
___________________ ___________________
Camilla Englund Linnéa Hallberg ___________________
Bachelor Thesis within Business Administration
Title: ICOM
Author: Camilla Englund, Linnéa Hallberg and Anna Wredenberg
Tutor: Mona Ericson
Date: 2010-05-24
Subject terms: Authentic leadership, transformational leadership, feedback,
performance review, ICOM and IKEA
Abstract
Background IKEA Communications (ICOM) is IKEA‟s communication company which creates communication tools, such as the IKEA catalogue and brochures. The company also functions as IKEA‟s internal communication agency. In 2008, ICOM went through a reorganization adopting a matrix structure. This imposes challenges since the employees report to different leaders in different situations. The competence leaders (CL) have the traditional staffing responsibility while project leaders (PL) are the operating leaders and responsible for leading the projects.
Purpose We will investigate how the leadership in terms of role clarification and area of responsibility of the CLs can be made more distinct in relation to their employees. Second, we investigate how the relationship between PLs and CLs can be further developed in terms of feedback. This involves sharing employee performance review and individual development after a project as well as how the CL can conduct employee performance review meetings.
Method The study was performed with a qualitative method. A number of
13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with employees and leaders at the production department at ICOM.
Conclusion Two areas of development have been identified at ICOM. It is evident employees are confused regarding the CL‟s role and area of responsibility. The role of the CLs is clear in theory but not in practice. Hence, the first area of development is to increase the distinction of CL‟s leadership in terms clarifying their role and responsibility. The study also discovered there is no common feedback routine used between PL and CL where they exchange information regarding employee‟s performance within a project. The second area of development is regarding the usage of a structured feedback routine for providing this information.
Table of Contents
1
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Problem discussion ... 1 1.2 Statement of Problem ... 3 1.3 Purpose ... 4 1.4 Delimitations ... 41.5 Disposition of the thesis ... 4
2
Theoretical framework ... 6
2.1 Leadership Theories... 6
2.1.1 Authentic leaders and leadership ... 6
2.1.2 Transformational leaders ... 8
2.2 Feedback theories ... 10
2.2.1 Feedback model ... 10
2.2.2 Feedforward... 11
2.2.3 Performance management ... 12
2.3 Structure theory: 7-S model ... 13
2.4 Theoretical emphasis ... 15
3
Method ... 16
3.1 Qualitative method ... 16
3.1.1 The (pre)-pilot study ... 17
3.1.2 The interview ... 18 3.1.3 The interviewees ... 19 3.2 Information analysis ... 19 3.3 Weaknesses encountered ... 20 3.4 Trustworthiness ... 20
4
Empirical presentation ... 23
4.1 Empirical material ... 234.1.1 For how long have you been working at ICOM and within IKEA? ... 24
4.1.2 What characterize a good leadership for you? Does your leader meet your expectations? ... 24
4.1.3 Do you feel you receive the right conditions to perform a good job? ... 24
4.1.4 How do you experience the relationship and the communication between CL and PL? ... 25
4.1.5 How does this relationship affect you in your daily work?... ... 25
4.1.6 In what way does the CL and PL relationship affect the whole organization, according to you? ... 26
4.1.7 Do you have any ideas on how the relationship and responsibility can be further developed between CL and PL?... ... 26
4.1.8 How distinct is the responsibility distribution between CLs and PLs for the employees? ... 27 4.1.9 What expectations do you believe your employees
4.1.10 What do you think of the reorganization made in 2008 where ICOM became both assignment and
competence based? ... 28
5
Analysis ... 29
5.1 Leadership theories ... 29 5.1.1 Role clarification ... 29 5.1.2 Organizational support ... 30 5.1.3 Work experience ... 31 5.1.4 Area of responsibility ... 32 5.2 Feedback ... 33 5.2.1 Feedback model ... 33 5.2.2 Feedforward... 35 5.2.3 Performance management ... 366
Results and concluding discussion ... 39
6.1 Results ... 39
6.1.1 Area of responsibility and role clarification ... 39
6.1.2 Feedback ... 40
6.2 Concluding discussion ... 40
6.3 Further research ... 41
6.4 Recommendations ... 42
6.4.1 Responsibility distribution and role clarification ... 42
6.4.2 Feedback ... 43
6.4.3 Other recommendations ... 45
List of references ... 47
Appendix ... 50
Appendix 1 – Basic Matrix Structure ... 50
Appendix 2 - The interview guide in Swedish to the employees ... 51
Appendix 3 - The interview guide in Swedish to the CL/PL/PDL/Production Manager ... 52
Appendix 4 - The interview guide in Swedish to the CEO ... 53
Appendix 5 - The interview guide in English to the employees ... 54
Appendix 6 - The interview guide in English to the CL/PL/PDL/Production Manager ... 55
Appendix 7 - The interview guide in English to the CEO ... 56
Appendix 8 – The GPM cycle ... 57
List of Figures
Figure 1: Organizational structure of the production department 2
Figure 2: Feedback model 11
Figure 3: The 7-S model 14
1
Introduction
“I see the communication as the biggest potential for improvement”
“Good leadership for me is presence, distinct leadership and involvement…”
Quotations from two interviewees
1.1 Problem discussion
One of the many tasks a leader has is to manage organizational change. Companies continuously evolve and change through e.g. expansion, globalization and technological changes. These types of changes impose challenges in the role of the leader. According to Kotter (2001), changes can be handled through aligning the company's employees, motivating the staff and setting directions. “Leadership and change are inexhaustible subjects. Our ability to lead people and generate positive change in organizations is developed as we learn from experience and the insight we gain from others” (Martin & Vine, 2010, p. 26).
One company that recently experienced a change is IKEA‟s communication company IKEA Communications AB (ICOM). It is the IKEA unit which produces the IKEA catalog and several other communication tools, e.g. brochures and the website. It is also IKEA‟s internal communication agency. ICOM has 285 employees (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 12 February 2010) and is situated ICOM in Älmhult, Sweden. During the fiscal year 2009, the catalog was made in 56 different editions and was written in 27 languages in order to reach out to as many customers as possible. The catalog was made in more than 198 million copies (IKEA, 2010a). ICOM is also responsible for global commercial events, brochures and product information for the IKEA department stores. ICOM has four main departments where the top manager of these departments is part of the directorate (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 12 February 2010). Every department is divided into different competence groups where several employees work. Each competence group has a competence leader (CL). The CLs have the traditional manager responsibility. They are responsible for staffing and the task of assigning their employees to different projects depending on the employees‟ competence. However, they are not involved in projects.
The employees are assigned to different projects and each project is lead by a project leader (PL). The PLs are responsible for the leading and running the different projects. Production leaders (PDL) share the responsibility for the project when the project enters the mode of production, a later state of the project life cycle. Today's structure gives the PLs daily contact with the employees while the CLs are not as much included in their employees‟ daily work. One major responsibility the CL has is to be able to further develop their employees‟ competences. Hence, the relationship between CLs and PLs, in terms of feedback, is crucial.
During fiscal year of 2008, ICOM faced a change. The company made a re-organization where it became assignment- and competence based. The reason for why the reorganization took place was due to the need to make the organization more flexible and put more focus on the different competencies within the organization. Today, the different competencies are situated together according to their competence and together with their CL. Before the employees were situated according to the different project groups they were working in (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 12 February 2010). Due to the re-organization the structure of ICOM has changed and the company became a matrix organization. The matrix structure at ICOM has resulted in the employees reporting to different managers in different situations. The employees report to the CLs in terms of their self- and competence development, while they report to the PLs in terms of work related issues. A matrix organization (see appendix 1) can be defined as “an organizational structure in which employees report to multiple managers, such as a functional manager and a project manager” (Sy & Cote, 2004 cited in Appelbaum, Nadeau & Cyr, 2008, p. 236).
The matrix structure has imposed challenges for the leaders as well as the employees. The figure below, see figure 1, presents the organizational structure of the production department, which is one of the four departments within ICOM. This thesis will focus on two areas within the production department at ICOM. The first area concerns the roles and area of responsibility of the CLs in relation to their employees. The CL‟s role and responsibility is not always distinct among employees. This area therefore concerns leadership. Leadership is a challenging task. One of the many tasks a leader has is to lead the employees in order to be able to fulfill the organization‟s goals (Winston & Patterson, 2006). To be a leader it is important to be distinct in the communication among employees (Bass & Riggio, 2006). It is also important to be able to further develop employees (Luthans & Avolio, 2003), which is also one of the many responsibilities a CL has.
Figure 1: Organizational structure of the production department (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 18 May 2010).
The other area of focus is the routine for feedback of performance and individual development between CL and PL. In December 2009, ICOM implemented a feedback routine on employee performance for CLs and PLs to use. However, it is not entirely developed and the CLs and PLs are not yet using it. Some of them are not even aware if its existents (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 18 May 2010). Feedback is commonly used to share employee performance reviews (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005). To be able to provide feedback on how an employee has performed and what the person can further develop is another important task as a leader (Goldsmith, 2003). Feedback will encourage employees to further develop their competences. Feedback can be given in terms of a performance management meeting. This meeting involves providing support for the employees in their job and helps them further develop their competencies (Russell & Russell, 2010). Feedback routines can be difficult to handle depending on the organizational structure, especially in a matrix organization (M. Steinholtz, personal communication, 10 March 2010).
These two areas are highly interesting and relevant due to the importance of distinct leadership (Bass & Riggio, 2006) and providing and receiving feedback to its employees (Goldsmith, 2003). Feedback is often used in performance evaluations. In order to have the best outcome, feedback should be given shortly after an event has taken place (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005), for example directly after a project. One leadership theory is the transformational leadership theory, which highlights the importance for a leader to communicate clear vision and goals (Bass & Riggio, 2006). This is important to use in order to increase a leader‟s distinction.
We find these two areas to be very interesting to focus on since theory states it is important to have distinct leadership as well as feedback routines. We also find this to be interesting since ICOM has an interest to further investigate these areas. The above discussion leads us to our problem statement, which will be presented in the following section.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The role and area of responsibility of the CL is not as distinct as favorable within the production unit at ICOM. The employees do not know whom of the CL and PL to turn to in different matters and often ends up talking to both their leaders and in some cases, even the PDL. The distinction of the CL‟s area of responsibility must then be more evident as well as the role clarification.
Another issue is the lack of feedback strategy after a project has finished. In the relationship between CLs and PLs, there is not a structured way for how, when, and where feedback on employee performance and individual development should be communicated. There is clearly a need for a better feedback strategy. Since one of the main responsibilities a CL has is to develop their employees where providing feedback
The problem statement and problem discussion leads us to the specific purpose for this thesis.
1.3 Purpose
The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, we investigate how the leadership in terms of role clarification and area of responsibility of the CLs can be made more distinct. This is in relation to the employees within the CL‟s competence group within the production department at ICOM.
Second, we investigate how the relationship between PLs and CLs can be further developed in terms of feedback. This involves sharing employee performance review and individual development after a project as well as how the CL can conduct employee performance review meetings.
Recommendations will be given based on the twofold purpose.
1.4 Delimitations
We want to highlight that we will only focus on CL‟s leadership and not the PL‟s leadership. If we had incorporated the PL‟s leadership into the purpose as well, our purpose would have been too extensive. That is why we chose only to focus on the distinction of the CL‟s leadership.
However, the PLs are important in regards to the feedback area within the purpose. Hence, the empirical study included both CLs and PLs.
1.5 Disposition of the thesis
The thesis has the following structure:
The next chapter presents the theoretical framework where leadership theories, feedback theories and an organizational change theory are presented.
The third chapter introduces the qualitative method used in this thesis. There are also sections describing the pre-pilot study, the technique used to gather information, the interviewees, and weaknesses encountered during the process of the method. The chapter closes with a section on trustworthiness.
The fourth chapter presents the empirical findings. In the beginning of the chapter we present relevant company information. The empirical materials are structured according to the interview guide where we have chosen to use the questions and answers relevant for the purpose of this thesis.
The fifth chapter presents an analysis of the empirical materials. This chapter is divided into two sections that mainly follow the structure of the theoretical framework. The first section presents the analysis on leadership while the second section provides the analysis on feedback. The 7-S model will be incorporated in the two different sections.
The last chapter presents the results and concluding discussion. The chapter begins with showing the main results of the analysis. The next section provides a suggestion on further research. The chapter ends with a discussion on recommendations to ICOM based on the purpose.
2
Theoretical framework
This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section presents leadership theories. These theories have been discussed with a Senior HR manager at IKEA. He believed these theories describe IKEA’s leadership style in general (I. Hallberg, personal communication, 15 March 2010). Since ICOM is facing some challenges in feedback routines the second section presents theoretical models on feedback. The last section provides a model discussing organizational change and efficiency since we identified a need for a model explaining the different parts within an organization.
2.1 Leadership Theories
The leadership theories chosen are authentic- and transformational leadership. These theories give an understanding of what leadership is and how it can be used.
2.1.1 Authentic leaders and leadership
The concept of authentic leadership is one of the oldest leadership theories according to Avolio, Gardner and Walumbwa (2005). Authentic leadership involves the belief of being true to oneself. Authentic leaders have to be confident and lead others based on their own values and beliefs (Ladkin & Taylor, 2010). Avolio, Luthans, and Walumbwa (2004) argue that authentic leaders are “those individuals who are deeply aware of how they think and behave and are perceived by others as being aware of their own and others values/moral perspective, knowledge, and strengths; aware of the context in which they operate; and who are confident, hopeful, optimistic, resilient, and high on moral character” (cited in Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa, Luthans & May, 2004, p. 802-804). This describes a leader who has an understanding of their selves and performs leadership from this standpoint.
Avolio et al. (2004 p. 805-806) “consider authentic leadership as a root construct that can incorporate transformational and ethical leadership”. Authentic leadership involves leaders to increase self-awareness and personnel development among their co-workers and followers. This leadership style is based on positive psychological abilities combined with a well-developed organization. Leading with positive behavior, influencing and developing others positively are important components in authentic leadership. Luthans and Avolio (2003) argue that authentic leaders have to be positive and convinced toward the coming future for their organization. Authentic leaders should further develop their employees and followers as well as constantly develop their ability as a leader. In order to spread this leadership style within the organization it must begin at the top of the company and move down to each employee. This will help to increase the cohesion among employees and strengthen the company.
As authentic leadership relies on the leaders‟ past experiences, the leader might find it easier to relate to a similar situation that occurred in his or her life (Shamir et al., 2005, cited in Shamir & Eilam, 2005). Authentic does not imply that a person is a leader. In order to fulfill the role as a leader, the employees must perceive and accept the person
as the leader. It is also important as a leader to create cohesion within its team of employees and make sure they want to follow (Ladkin & Taylor, 2010).
Shamir and Eilam (2005, p. 396) describe authentic, based on a dictionary, as being “genuine, original”. They argue that being an authentic leader involves four elements. An authentic leader does not fake its leadership. This element involves not taking the leader position because one is the appointed leader but rather since it comes natural. This element also involves the belief of the „true‟ self where the leaders are being who they are and behave based on this.
The second element implies an authentic leader does not perform a leadership role in order to achieve status or prestige. The leaders act based on a natural feeling and their inner values. The inner values become a drive toward exercising leadership where it is important to convey these values to others. However, status and honor are not important for authentic leaders.
An authentic leader is thus genuine and not fake. This leader is not any different from other leaders in terms of behavior or opinions. The leader does not hold these opinions because others, e.g. society, believe they are correct. Instead, authentic leaders have values they believe in and can represent. Authentic leaders perform leadership based on prior experience and knowledge.
The last element involves authentic leaders to base their leadership on their inner values. The values the leader finds important will be the base of their leadership. They act in accordance to their opinions and values (Shamir & Eilam, 2005).
While aiming at becoming an authentic leader it is important to develop certain characteristics in order to become an authentic leader (George, 2003). The following section will provide five characteristics that are important to have as an authentic leader.
Characteristics of authentic leaders
George (2003) has developed characteristics he believed an authentic leader has to master and develop. These characteristics are:
Understanding their purpose Practicing solid values Leading with heart
Establishing connected relationships Demonstrating self-discipline
The first characteristic means the authentic leader has to identify what one‟s purposes are to engage in leadership. This becomes an inner direction and understanding of why to practice leadership. Identifying the purpose is done through knowing one‟s self and
identify a purpose is also of relevance since it will guide the leader in his or her work (George, 2003).
The second characteristic involves defining one‟s inner values and beliefs. These are developed and formed during one‟s lifetime and becomes one‟s guidance in life (George, 2003). Being committed to your values is an important characteristic. If the leader exercises the values he or she believes in, others will find the leader to be trustworthy and will be able to depend on that person (George & Sims, 2007). As an authentic leader it is important to be honest. It is encouraged to give both negative and positive feedback (George, 2003).
Leading with heart is to lead with enthusiasm and excitement. Authentic leaders find it interesting to lead others and have a strong motivation for their job. Leading with heart also involves understanding the employees and followers (George & Sims, 2007). The forth characteristic involves the leader to accomplish actions at work through teamwork and not alone. It is important to work towards the same goals and to have good communication with your employees. If there are no established relationships the authentic leader will be less authentic (George, 2003).
Lastly, demonstrating self-discipline involves converting values into actions. As an authentic leader it is important to stand for your values and put them into action. The values possessed should be in accordance to one‟s behavior (George, 2003). In order to be successful and reach the aiming goals, an authentic leader must show the quality of self-discipline (George & Sims, 2007).
Authentic leaders are based on the concept of being true to oneself where they lead others based on their inner values and beliefs (Ladkin & Taylor, 2010). Transformational leadership is defined by Burns (1978) and further developed by Bass (1990) and Bass and Riggio (2006). This is presented in the next section.
2.1.2 Transformational leaders
Two scholars in particular, Burns (1978) and Bass (1990), have developed the theory of transformational leadership. Burns (1978, p. 19) defines the concept of leadership as “leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations - the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations – of both leaders
and followers”. Burns (1978) implies transformational leadership is based on more than
the compliance of followers. It involves the shifts in the beliefs, the needs, and the values of the followers.
Bass and Riggio (2006, p. 3) further developed Burns‟ findings and define transformational leadership as: “those (leaders) who stimulate and inspire followers to both achieve extraordinary outcomes and, in the process, develop their own leadership capacity”. The core of transformational leadership is for the leader to help and support
the followers and make them leaders. It is important to respond to the followers‟ individual needs and combine them with the goals and objectives of the group and the organization.
A transformational leader is characterized as someone who motivates others to do more than they originally thought they would. Transformational leaders set higher goals than an ordinary leader and usually achieve higher performance. They also tend to have more satisfied and committed followers (Kuhnert & Lewis, 1987).
Bass & Riggio (2006) have identified four elements of transformational leadership:
Idealized influence
Transformational leaders are seen as role models. They should strive to be admired, respected and trusted by their followers. The followers give the leaders attributes such as extra ordinary capabilities and are inspired to be like their leaders. There are two aspects of idealized influence: the leaders‟ behavior and the elements that are attributed to the leader by the followers. These two aspects represent the interactional nature of transformational leadership. Leaders who uses idealized influence are risk takers and consistent rather than arbitrary.
Inspirational motivation
A transformational leader should provide meaning and challenge to the follower‟s work. Working with team spirit is highly encouraged and should be an ongoing process. To clearly communicate visions and goals among the team is an important task for a transformational leader. This increases the motivation among followers.
Intellectual stimulation
Leaders stimulate their followers by questioning assumptions, reframing problems and approaching old problems in new ways. Followers are encouraged to think outside the box and ideas are not criticized if they are not in line with the leaders‟ ideas. Hence, creativity is important.
Individual consideration
Transformational leaders pay attention to followers‟ individual needs. They function as a coach or mentor and should provide an inspiring and supportive climate. Acceptance of differences is highly important and should be demonstrated through the leader‟s behavior. Transformational leaders encourage a two-way communication and delegate tasks in order to be able to develop followers.
A two-way communication is closely related to feedback where the sender and the receiver communicate in order to understand each other better (Larsson, 2002). A
two-managers focus on how to perform better in the future (Goldsmith, 2003). The following section provides theories on feedback, feedforward and performance management.
2.2 Feedback theories
According to Nationalencyklopedin (2000) feedback can be defined as the process of providing individuals with information regarding their performance and behavior. Feedback is when leaders give their employees information on how they have performed. The leader also provides information on how well the employees carried out the task and what they can improve in the future (Goldsmith, 2003).
2.2.1 Feedback model
Shannon and Weaver developed a basic communication model first presented in 1948. Their model has been copied and further developed by many researchers over the years but the main concepts have stayed constant. Their model is linear and includes a sender, message, channel and a receiver as well as noise and effect of communication (cited in Larsson, 2002). The basic communication model can be described through a set of questions: “Who says what to whom, through what channel and with what effect?” (Lasswell (1948) cited in McQuail, 2000, p. 52-53). With more research, the sender‟s purpose of the message and the interpretation (encoding/decoding) of the message by the receiver are included in the communication model.
The concept of feedback is also added to the model (see figure 2 on p.11). This refers to the idea that the receiver answers the sender and implies the model is not a one-way communication (Larsson, 2002). One must also keep in mind the context in which the communication is practiced is very important for the message and how it is encoded and decoded. The context can be physical, psychological, social or cultural.
When a company is facing structural changes or reorganizes, the „communication model‟ of the organization also changes. Employees can easily feel insecure about the situation if not clear guidelines are set up and the need for structure is often increased as the uncertainty increases. Therefore, the leaders must not only focus on their new tasks but also on the interaction and the communication among the team members (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005).
Feedback enables the communicator to know what affect the message has on the receiver and if it has been received and interpreted the way the sender intended (Maltén, 1998). Feedback is often used in performance evaluations and in manager/employee meeting. There are different types of feedback e.g. informational, personal reaction and evaluation. Evaluation feedback means that a person‟s behavior in a certain situation is evaluated or that a person‟s achievement is evaluated. It is important to note that this kind of feedback is complex and difficult. It is often used in situations where an employee is „evaluated‟ by his or her manager. It is vital the people involved feel safe and trust each other in order for the feedback sessions to be effective and rewarding. To
be most effective, feedback should be given direct or as soon as possible after an event has occurred. It should be honest, relevant and concrete and it is important to distinguish the person from the event or task (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005).
Figure 2: Feedback model (Forsyth & Madden, 2005, p. 5).
The feedback theory argues the dialogue between the leader and the employee should be as neutral as possible (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005). This can be difficult since feedback focuses on evaluating employee performances. Goldsmith (2003) supports the importance to have a positive approach towards employee evaluation by using the concept of feedforward. Feedforward concentrates on future accomplishments instead of past events.
2.2.2 Feedforward
Goldsmith (2003) argues leaders should use the concept of feedforward. This concept suggests information given to employees should focus on improvements for the future, rather than feedback which focuses on the past.
During a feedforward meeting there should be a two-way communication where the two participants both provide and receive feedforward. Goldsmith (2003) outlined how a meeting might look like. He suggests each meeting should take about 15 minutes where each employee participates in approximately seven sessions. In the beginning of the meeting the employee selects and describes a characteristic he or she prefers to improve. The employee then asks for feedforward where the employee only listens to the proposals given. The process then goes the other way around where the provider will be the receiver.
One of the many reasons to use this concept is because it is preferable to focus on the future and on what the employee can change instead of stressing the mistakes made in the past. It puts focus on the positive aspect of improvements where possible solutions are suggested. Goldsmith (2003) also states that feedforward is experienced among
Feedback Message
participants as more open and dynamic compared to feedback. The communication is also seen as more pleasant rather than negative.
Both the theory on feedback and feedforward discusses the evaluation of employee performance. Russell and Russell (2010) have developed a model for how to conduct performance management. It is called the Great Performance Management cycle
(GPM) and is presented in the following section.
2.2.3 Performance management
Performance management is the process of evaluating employee‟s performance and support for further development. It involves different steps where performance is the main focus. The employee‟s performance is evaluated in relation to the job description and the organization‟s values and mission. The GPM cycle is presented in appendix 8. The model the Great Performance Management cycle (GPM) is developed by Russell and Russell (2010) and consists of five different steps.
The first step is Define great performance outcomes. In this step the purpose of the employees‟ job is established. The manager defines what great performance means and the most favorable outcome. This should serve as a targetable goal for the employee. The authors have used “great” to highlight the importance of high performance. It is important employees understand what is expected from them. It creates fair conditions to perform the job well. The performance expectations should be based on the customers‟ needs, and the organization‟s mission and vision. The performance expectations should also be based on the job description of each employee. Each employee then has different expectations depending on their position. The manager and the employee should also decide upon how the performance will be measured. This will create a better understanding for the outcome, what is favorable or not.
The second step is Develop goals and strategies, and take action to achieve outcomes. Within this step, goals, strategies and actions are defined in order for the employee to reach the most favorable outcomes. It also involves establishing the same elements for the company; how will the company help the employee to reach the goals? It is important the goals and strategies are targetable and measurable. This will help both the employee and the manager to identify if the performance is good or not. It is also relevant in this step to use the job description for each employee since this will remind the employees of their purpose within the company and their contribution.
Provide support (training, resources, tools, information, feedback etc.) is the third step.
This step involves the organization to support the employees in their work in order to reach the established goals. Support involves education, right resources, and feedback, which will create the right conditions to perform well. It is highly important the manager and the organization provide their employees with support since this will increase the chances of positive outcomes.
The forth step is Evaluate performance. The manager together with the employee discusses the performance outcome. This meeting is called the performance coaching
conversation. The outcome is compared to the already established goals of performance.
During this evaluation meeting, the manager and the employee identify possible opportunities for future improvements.
Make improvements is the last step of the GPM cycle. During the performance coaching conversation the manager, together with the employee recognizes improvements and
actions the employee can undertake for future performances. Russell and Russell (2010) also suggest managers can provide their employees with logical consequences for their performance. They encourage managers to use this approach in order to reach desirable goals.
In order to perform proper performance management and feedback strategies it is preferable the organization has a well functioning structure. When an organization changes, the feedback strategy also changes (Nilsson & Waldermarson, 2005). The 7-S model discusses the complexity of organizations and organizational change and efficiency. Although organizational efficiency and change is not part of our purpose we found it important to include a model that describes how organizational change affects the organization. We chose the 7-S model since it provides an understanding of organizational changes due to a reorganization of a company.
2.3 Structure theory: 7-S model
Waterman, Peters and Phillips (1980) discuss the complexity of organizational change and the issue of organizational efficiency. According to Simon (1977) “the challenge for managers in organizations is how to organize better” (cited in Waterman et al., 1980, p. 17). Simon (1977) continues to state that this subject is much more complex than what previous models of effective organizations have presented.
Waterman et al. (1980) argue for three main ideas for why this model is preferable. The first reason is there are many factors that together affect the organization's ability to become effective and to adopt to change. Second, they argue these factors are connected to each other. If a change is made in one area, other areas will be affected as well. The last idea concerns the layout of the model. The model is constructed in a way where all parts are integrated. There is no start and no end point. The start point can then be different depending on the organization.
Waterman et al. (1980) identified a need for a new model, which describes a new way of thinking about organizations. Weber (1998) argues that this model is one of the most used when it comes to understand an entire organization. Waterman et al. (1980) model combine 7 factors. These factors are; structure, staff, subordinate goals, strategy, systems, style and skill (see figure 3 on p. 14).
Figure 3: 7-S model (Waterman et al., 1980, p. 18)
The systems factor involve components that make the business function on a daily basis. Subordinate goals are the foundation of goals within an organization. These goals give the direction and instructions for the employees. “Subordinate goals are the fundamental ideas around which a business unit is built” (Waterman et al., 1980, p. 24). Both style, systems and subordinates goals are important in the 7-S model. However, these factors are not important for our purpose of this thesis. Therefore, we have decided to focus on those four factors, which are relevant for this thesis.
Structure
Waterman et al. (1980) discuss the theoretical history of structure. “Structure divides tasks and then provides coordination. It trades off specialization and integration. It decentralize and then recentralize” (Waterman et al., 1980, p.19).
A small organization often has less structure since the owner of the business often has the main responsibility. Hence, there is no need for more structure. However, as an organization becomes larger, the need for more structure increases. The need for specialization increases as well, which results in a need for more structure. More structure is also needed to make the responsibilities and roles more evident within an organization (Weber, 1998).
Skills
Skills refer to the qualities, which make the company more attractive and unique than its competitors (Weber, 1998). As a company grows larger, more skills might be available. However, skills do not refer to how many skills the company has but rather how these skills are combined together. Moreover, it shows how this combination of skills makes the company unique and stands out from other competitors.
Staff
In the 7-S model, staff involves the people who work within the organization. Waterman et al. (1980) argue top management and management sometimes ignore the importance of developing their staff. There are two sides of the staff dimension: the hard and the soft side. The soft side includes factors like behavior, motivation, attitude and moral. The hard side includes factors such as pay scales, appraisal systems, formal training programs and similar factors.
Strategy
Strategy refers to the plans a company undertakes in order to meet changes in the external environment, e.g. customers and its competitors. The strategy is also a tool the company uses to become better than their competitors. Examples of strategies are to offer better value to the customer, reduce cost of production or strive to have sales control (Waterman et al., 1980).
One type of strategy Weber (1998) discusses is the individual strategy. He argues individual strategies are needed within every company since individuals create the foundation of a company. Individual strategies put focus on the accomplishment of personal goals. Theemployees should reflect upon what they bring to the company as a competitive advantage. If the answer to this question is not clear the employees should begin to reflect and reach an understanding of this question.
2.4 Theoretical emphasis
As we have presented theories regarding leadership, feedback and organizational efficiency and change, we find it important to reflect upon why these specific theories have been chosen.
The first section presents leadership theories: authentic and transformational theories. Concerning the leadership theories the most interesting factors, for our purpose, is the clarification in how leaders can behave in their leadership in order to be distinct in their role and area of responsibility.
The second section of the theoretical framework presents different feedback strategies. This section supports the importance of having a feedback strategy in order to further develop employees and conduct performance reviews. The section also provides different techniques for how to conduct performance reviews with employees. These are feedforward and performance management.
The last section presents the 7-S model, which highlights the importance of having an efficient company structure as a stable foundation as well as the value of individual development. The dimensions presented are staff, strategy, structure and skills, where all of these dimensions are relevant for our purpose.
This theoretical framework will provide us with the information we need in order to analyze the empirical material.
3
Method
This chapter describes the qualitative method we used for our study of ICOM. We chose semi-structured interviews as an information gathering technique. Sections describing the pre-pilot study, the interviews, and the interviewees are included. One section also presents how the information we collected were analyzed. We also illustrate the weaknesses encountered during our process within one section. The chapter closes with a discussion on the trustworthiness of our research.
3.1 Qualitative method
“Qualitative research is a research strategy that usually emphasizes words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data.” (Bryman & Bell, 2007, p. 402). This quote describes a qualitative method, which we decided to use for this thesis. This method allow us to investigate the relationship between CL and PL and the distinct leadership in the CL‟s role and area of responsibility. The main advantage of this method is its openness towards information (Jacobsen, 2002) and the diversity in information (Creswell, 2003). By receiving diversity in information we are able to investigate how the feedback routine is structured between PL and CL and if the role and area of responsibility of the CL is distinct in relation to the employees. Since a qualitative method is open towards information, it allows individuals to reveal their understanding of a stated issue (Jacobsen, 2002).
Another advantage is the flexibility of a qualitative method, meaning that the original problem statement can be changed during a study. As we gained more knowledge along the process we changed the problem of the study to refine it. Our first problem statement focused only on the role of the CL while the present problem statement also puts focus on the distinction of CL‟s area of responsibility and the feedback routine employed by CLs and PLs. A qualitative method also allows us to be close to the people who participate in the study (Jacobsen, 2002). Close involves meeting and interacting with the people in person and listen to them. It is also important to state that this method provides the opportunity to put focus on details (Bryman & Bell, 2007). It allows us to put focus on all the respondents within the study and also investigate both the relationship between CL and PL and how employees find the CL‟s role and responsibility to be.
It is important to keep in mind that there are disadvantages with the qualitative method. One disadvantage is the difficulties of fully replicate a study. This requires the researcher to put more emphasizes on a specific area within a study while other areas are left out (Bryman & Bell, 2007). We have tried to use all of the information provided by the respondents. However, it is difficult to emphasize every detail given. Therefore, we have encountered this difficulty along our process. When using a qualitative method extensive information is gathered. All the information can be difficult to structure and compile in order to be comprehensive for the authors. We came across this obstacle when structuring the information we collected from the 13 interviews. Another obstacle
with this method is that the interviewees might find it difficult to give their true answer to some questions (Jacobsen, 2002). During the interviews we asked questions which interviewees might have found difficult to answer truthfully. One of these questions was if they were satisfied with their leader or not.
As an alternative to qualitative method, researchers can use a quantitative method. A quantitative method involves figures and quantification as a measure. This is the main difference between quantitative and qualitative method (Bryman & Bell, 2007). However, there are more differences between these two methods. According to Jacobsen (2002) a quantitative method involves deciding, before conducting a research, the measured category e.g. women or men. The data gathered during this method are standardized which means that each unit, within the study, will be treated equally. An example for techniques used within this method is questionnaires with e.g. yes or no answers, or numerical answers. Since each unit is treated equally it is difficult to see the uniqueness of each unit. This is one of the disadvantages with a quantitative method. We find the qualitative method to be the most suitable method for our study. This method enables us to investigate our purpose where we had the opportunity to put focus on details and words (Bryman & Bell, 2007). The qualitative method also provides us with the opportunity to gather extensive information from employees at ICOM. As an information collection technique we used semi-structured interviews. This technique is further presented in section 3.1.2. The following section presents the pre-pilot study we conducted.
3.1.1 The (pre)-pilot study
We decided to make a pre-pilot study before we conducted the interviews. A pre-pilot study involves asking a person, within the same reference group as the interviewees, to give feedback on the intended questions. This allows for changes in focus and phrasing of the questions and deleting questions, which are not relevant. The questions should flow and there should be cohesion among the questions (Gillham, 2005). Please see appendix 2, 3 and 4 for the Swedish version of the questions and appendix 5, 6 and 7 for the English version.
Our pre-pilot study included a Senior HR Manager, who has been working within IKEA for 33 years. Considering the manager‟s background he has broad knowledge and insight in both IKEA and ICOM. Therefore, we believed this manager was an appropriate person to involve.
Together with the manager we had a discussion regarding the interview questions. The manager provided his recommendations. He believed we could change the phrasing and the focus within some questions. We did not make any major changes but some questions were reformulated to better suit our purpose. The recommendations we got were very useful and we found it valuable to conduct a pre-pilot study. We also met with another manager, outside of IKEA and ICOM, who has worked as a competence
from matrix organizations and we were able to discuss the concept of matrix organization with him. The manager confirmed that feedback strategies are difficult to manage in complex company structures (M, Steinholtz, personal communication, 8 March 2010). The informal meeting with the manager provided us with some additional basic information about matrix organizations.
3.1.2 The interview
For the information collection technique we chose to conduct semi-structured interviews. The technique is a mix between structured and open questions (Gillham, 2005). This enables the interviewer to ask additional questions if the answers are not satisfying (Williamson, 2002). Some of the questions we asked were the same to all interviewees while we created a couple of questions that were only asked to specific respondents. These questions were specified in relation to a respondents work tasks and position. Examples of interview questions are: “What is a good leadership for you?” and “How do you experience the relationship and the communication between CL and PL?” The question: “In what way does the CL and PL relationship affect the whole organization, according to you?” was only asked to the CEO. This was done because the CEO has the overall perspective of the organization.
The interviews were tape recorded in order for us to go back and listen to them. This was done in order to be able to do a thorough analysis of the material. Another advantage of using a tape recorder is that it gave us the respondents‟ exact statement and not our interpretation of what the interviewees said. To tape record the interviews also helped us to avoid distraction from the need to take notes (Williamson, 2002). An advantage with semi-structured interviews is that it provides a combination of structure and openness. With the help of prompts the interviewer can guide the interviewees to get equivalent coverage in the field of interest (Gillham, 2005). We were able to gather a lot of information from each interviewee since the questions we asked were open but at the same time focused on our purpose.
It is important to keep in mind that the answers can vary in relation to what tone of voice the question was asked. The answers can also be affected by how the interviewer is interpreted by the interviewee and vice versa. Personal characteristics such as age, sex, educational level and race can bias an interview (Williamson, 2002). Although a bias is accepted in a qualitative method, we still want to highlight that sometimes the questions might have been asked in a biased way.
It is also important to keep in mind that when conducting a semi-structured interview each interview should have the same time disposition (Gillham, 2005). The interviewees were allotted the same amount of time, which was around 20 minutes. The time span was set in order to not take too much time from the interviewees but at the same time give us as much information as possible. The interviews were performed in Swedish. Therefore, the quotations and empirical findings have been translated into English.
3.1.3 The interviewees
It was decided we were to interview 13 employees within the production department. In order to investigate the relationship between CL and PL in terms of feedback, and the CL‟s role and area of responsibility we decided to interview different employees within different positions. From the beginning the intention was to interview eight employees, mostly in the CL position. However, this was changed because we wanted to receive a broader insight of the situation, e.g. how different respondents are affected by the CL/PL relation.
CL, PL, PDL and other employees were chosen with the help of our contact person at ICOM. The process of selecting interviewees went overall smoothly. Without the help from our contact person we would have experienced more difficulties finding the appropriate interviewees. We want to highlight that we will not state the roles of the interviewees within the empirical chapter. We find this information to be irrelevant for our purpose.
To be able to compile all information gathered during the interviews, we used an information analysis described in the next section.
3.2 Information analysis
According to Jacobsen (2002), information analysis consists of three steps. These are description, categorization and combining. The first step involves creating a short description of the information gathered. The description should be as detailed as possible. The second step is categorization which helps to provide an overview of the information gathered. This step involves creating categories in order to simplify the data. It is difficult to use all the information provided and some information was deselected. The last step, combining, involves analyzing the information and relating answers to each other in order to find a connection. This will provide an understanding of the information gathered.
We started by transcribing all the information we had recorded in order to get an overview of the interviews. Having the interviews on paper enabled us to make notes and comments in the margin (Jacobsen, 2002) and easier grasp and create a description of all the information collected. One negative aspect of transcription is the loss of information in terms of how the words are pronounced, in what pace and in what tone (Gillham, 2005). The transcribing material is available if requested.
The step of categorizing has been to categorize the interviewees‟ answers according to questions. By doing so we got an indication of which questions were of interest to our purpose. Jacobsen (2002) argues that a category must be relevant in terms of concepts or how theory is applicable to the categories. Since our purpose is twofold, we decided to make a rough classification in leadership related answers and feedback related
When the material was categorized, we began to look for similarities and differences between the answers (Jacobsen, 2002). Some questions had homogenous answers while other questions had varied answers. The process of finding connections between the categories has helped us to see relationships between the respondents‟ answers and the current situation at ICOM.
During the process of conducting a pre-pilot to the end of the information analysis stage we encountered some weaknesses. These weaknesses will be explained in the following section.
3.3 Weaknesses encountered
From the beginning we were asked to put focus on the assignment department at ICOM. However, this was later changed to the production department. Due to a change in the department our intended purpose also changed. However, we believe this did not have a negative effect on the result of the thesis since this was done very early in our process. To find out if the selected employees were interested to participate in this study we sent an email to all of them. This email briefly introduced who we were and gave information about our thesis. We asked if they wanted to participate and what day would be appropriate for them. We suggested two different days in order to provide options. We sent this email to 14 potential interviewees where 12 of them could meet us one of these two days. One of them did not reply, while another respondent did not have time to meet us during one of these two days but was interested to participate. This was the production manager who is an essential person to interview since she has an overall perspective of the situation. We were able to conduct a telephone interview with her a couple of weeks later, receiving important information. We have not experienced this to negatively affect the result of this thesis since we were able to interview her before we began to structure our empirical findings.
For the result of this study it would have been good if we had interviewed one more CL and one more PL. This would have provided us with yet other perspectives of the situation. However, due to time limit we were not able to visit ICOM a third time in order to conduct further interviews. This hinder might have affected the result. The trustworthiness of the result and the given answers would be increased if we had interviewed one more CL and PL. Hence, the trustworthiness of this thesis will be discussed and explained in the following section.
3.4 Trustworthiness
Validity describes the connection between what is measured and what it intends to measure (Svenning, 2003). Silverman (2000, p. 175) uses Hammersley‟s (1990) definition of validity: “the truth, interpreted as the extent to which an account accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers”. Results should not only be valid, they need to be reliable as well. Svenning (2003) describes reliability as that if nothing
has changed within a sample, two studies with the same purpose and method should provide the same results.
The concepts of validity and reliability are important in quantitative research but the relevance of using these terms in qualitative research has been debated (Bryman, 2001). Adjustments to the concepts have been made by several researchers to be able to adopt validity and reliability in qualitative research. Lincoln and Guba (1985) argue for four criteria to be fulfilled in order for a qualitative study to be trustworthy.
Credibility
Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest that credibility of a study can be made through member checks or member validation. It involves letting one or more people, who are involved in the study, confirm that the findings made by the researchers are correctly interpreted and understood (Bryman, 2001). Our contact person at ICOM has read our thesis and given her confirmation. She was not included in the interviews but she has an overview perspective of the organization. Therefore, we believe she was suitable to review our study to see if we had understood the situation correctly.
For a study to be credible it should also have been ensured that it follows the standards of good practice (Bryman, 2001). The tutoring meetings and seminars throughout the process of this thesis have provided us with guidelines on how to write a thesis and how to do it in accordance to good practice. We argue this further increases the credibility of our thesis.
Transferability
Qualitative research often, as in our case, concerns deep studies on a small group (Bryman, 2001). To know if the results are useful in another context is difficult (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The researchers can only provide a thick description which will give the reader ability to know whether or not this research is applicable to other studies. The description should be good enough so that the reader can decide if the information can be transferred (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam, 1998).
In section 3.1.2 we provided detailed information on where and how the interviews were conducted. It is also stated with whom the interviews were held. The thesis includes a company description, which provides the possibility to know how ICOM is structured. We argue that the information in this thesis is enough for potential researchers to decide if the study is applicable, hence transferrable, to their study or not. Merriam (1998, p. 211) refer to this practice of letting the reader decide transferability as “reader or user generalization”.
Dependability
Dependability is the qualitative equivalent to reliability in quantitative research (Bryman, 2001). To reach dependability, Lincoln and Guba (1985) suggest an „auditing‟
that someone, other than the researchers, should examine the material. The person could then verify the accuracy of the study (Bryman, 2001). We stress that our tutor has been involved in the process of this thesis. The students in our seminar group have also scrutinized the progress of the thesis. We also refer to the confirmation by our contact person at ICOM for further dependability. Hence we argue that our study has achieved some dependability.
Confirmability
Confirmability deals with ensuring the researchers‟ personal values are not included within a study. A qualitative research can never be fully objective and the theoretical framework should never be biased in a way that affects the results (Bryman, 2001). We argue our personal believes have not affected our study. The questions asked to the interviewees were thoroughly worked through in order to be as open-minded as possible. Before conducting the interviews we sent the interview guide to our tutor who read them through. Additionally, we conducted a pre-pilot study where the questions were discussed with a Senior HR Manager with 33 years of experience within IKEA. We put a lot of effort in the questions in order to collect the respondents‟ own answers and not expected answers.
Going through these four criteria for trustworthiness we come to the conclusion that our study is trustworthy.
The interviews at ICOM have provided us with interesting materials and the next chapter presents the empirical materials based on the interviews.
4
Empirical presentation
The chapter starts with a short review of the structure of the production unit at ICOM and the challenges the company is facing in terms of responsibility distribution and feedback routines. The empirical material is presented question by question since we believe this enhances readability and creates a better understanding of the information gathered. We gained a lot interesting material from the interviews. However, some answers fell outside our purpose. The material presented is a selection of the interview questions we find most useful for our purpose.
4.1 Empirical material
IKEA is a global home furnishing company founded in Sweden. This company offers home furnishing products to customers with a low price (IKEA, 2010b). This company has its own culture, which is spread throughout the company and its co-workers. IKEA values diversity among their employees in terms of ethnicity and background. IKEA believe diversity among co-workers increases the creativity and flexibility within the company. IKEA also believe they can always improve and find better ways to perform in the future. The culture also involves simplicity where equal opportunities are provided to all of their co-workers. The latter refers to the opportunity to grow and develop individual and professional skills (IKEA, 2010c).
ICOM is a unit within the IKEA corporation. ICOM is a company with a complex matrix structure. As of 2008 ICOM is competence and assignment based (see section 1.1). This has made ICOM more flexible but at the same time more complex. The CL is a traditional leader with responsibility regarding employees, salaries, employee performance reviews, and rehabilitation sessions. The CLs also have jobs chats with their employees. These are held every other month where one hour is devoted. During this meeting the CLs and employees can interact and briefly discuss work and follow up on job tasks etc. The CLs also conduct performance reviews once a year.
The PL is responsible for the project and the communication within the project as well as with the customers. A PL can be responsible for more than one project and therefore, lead more than one team. As opposed to the CL, PL meets the employees on a daily basis (C. Stenberg, personal communication, 18 May 2010). Hence, the employees report to different leaders depending on the matter. This creates confusion among the employees and the leaders regarding whom to report to. One interviewee discusses the complication: “Sometimes it is not clear if it is the CL, the PL or the PDL who has the main responsibility”. A PDL is responsible when the project enters the production mode. In December 2009, ICOM implemented a feedback routine for the CLs and PLs to use. Therefore, we investigate the relationship between CLs and PLs in terms of feedback on employees‟ performance. We also investigate the CL‟s leadership in terms of role clarification and area of responsibility. These areas are the main focus for the
To view the complete interview guide please see appendix 2, 3 and 4 for the Swedish version and appendix 5, 6 and 7 for the English version.
4.1.1 For how long have you been working at ICOM and within IKEA?
The question was asked to all respondents to gain background information about the interviewees. The result showed that the respondents length of employment at ICOM varied from 2 years to 36 years. The employment length was the same for IKEA as well. All CL have worked in other positions within ICOM before they became CLs. They have prior experience from being PLs and PDLs. This show the CLs has prior work experience within ICOM, and IKEA, before they entered the position as a CL. The leaders, CL, PL, PDL and CEO have worked in other positions before they became leaders. Most of the employees have worked within ICOM and IKEA for a long period of time, which gives them knowledge about IKEA‟s company culture as well as experience. Two of the respondents had also worked for IKEA abroad.
4.1.2 What characterize a good leadership for you? Does your leader meet your expectations?
This question was asked to all of the interviewees. The answers indicate what leadership characteristics the employees found to be important. This answers also showed what a good leadership is at ICOM. There were mainly four characteristics of good leadership that continually returned during the interviews. These were: distinct leadership, presence, individual development and involvement. There were other characteristics mentioned during the interviews as well. Examples of these are: genuine interest for humans, goal-oriented, challenge in order to motivate and reliance. One of the respondents also highlighted the importance of being able to stand for your beliefs and values.
The second question we asked was if the respondents‟ leaders fulfilled their expectations. The respondents thought they received what they defined as good leadership from their leaders. Most respondents believed they received distinct leadership, presence, individual development and involvement from their leader and was satisfied with the leadership.
4.1.3 Do you feel you receive the right conditions to perform a good job?
All interviewees believed they got the right conditions to perform their job well. Several of the interviewees referred to IKEA‟s human resource idea where it is important for each employee to take their own responsibility. This means if the employees do not experience to receive the right conditions it is important they take their own responsibility and ask for help. Some respondents thought prior work experiences are beneficial to be able to better create work conditions for themselves. PLs and CLs with
