YARDSTICK INTERNATIONAL COLLEGE

MASTERS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION-2013

Course:

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND DEVELOPMENT-MBA 612

Course Manager: PR. BELETE KEBEDE

Assignment one:

A CASE STUDY ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF HKB

CONSTRUCTION PLC

By: DANIEL AWOKE

ID Number: MAO/1522/13

MARCH, 2022
TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................1

BACKGROUND OF HKB CONSTRUCTION PLC....................................................................1

VISION, MISSION AND VALUES..............................................................................................2

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES......................................................................................................2

DESIGN AND STRUCTURE........................................................................................................3

LEADERSHIP STYLE...................................................................................................................5

CULTURES....................................................................................................................................5

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION...............................................................5

REFORM AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT...............................................................................6

CONCLUSIONS.............................................................................................................................6

REFERENCES...............................................................................................................................7

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A CASE STUDY REPORT ON ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOR OF
HKB CONSTRUCTION PLC

INTRODUCTION
Organizational behavior (OB) is defined as the systematic study and application of
knowledge about how individuals and groups act within the organizations where they work.
In this paper the Organizational Behavior of HKB Construction Plc, a private construction
company involved in Water and Water related construction services, will be studied and
analyzed. Accordingly a case study is conducted based on empirical data addressing the
overall aspects of the organization with a focus on its organizational behaviour make up. The
study had addressed the background, vision, mission and values, products and services,
structure and design, leadership styles, cultures, work environment and job satisfaction, and
reforms and change management with in the Company.

BACKGROUND OF HKB CONSTRUCTION PLC

HKB Construction PLC is a private business organisation established in 2014 GC by three
professional founding members with start-up capital of 14,320,000 ETB.

The company is a private limited company owned by three shareholders who are industry
professionals who were working in construction industry through full time employment as
well as contracting and subcontracting of construction projects prior to establishing HKB
Construction PLC.

The company is mainly located in Addis Ababa, Yeka sub city, next to Ministry of Mines and
Energy in addition to branch offices found in different parts of our country.

The main objective and responsibility of the company is providing high quality and reliable
Water and Water related Construction services to its customers. The company have been
undertaking different operational activities in urban and rural water supply projects, large,
medium and small-scale irrigation project, drainage system, sanitary and civil work
construction works etc.

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VISION, MISSION AND VALUES

VISION: To be one of the leading private companies in Water supply, Irrigation and Civil
work construction services in the Horn of Africa by 2030 and providing advanced Irrigation
and Agricultural Construction services to enhance the Agricultural Growth Program (AGP)
of our Country.

MISSION: To provide our customers with valued high quality construction solutions just on
time, using our expertise in complex and simple:
 Urban and rural water supply construction
 Large and small scale irrigation and pond
 Rural and urban drainage and Sewerage System construction
 Modern land preparation for Irrigation of Sugar cane plantation and
 Flood Protection construction and Environmental impact mitigation

VALUES: Our values stand on a foundation of Integrity, Quality and Safety.

 People are the heart of our organization.
 Customers are our valued partners.
 Performance excellence is our commitment.
 Profitable Growth is imperative.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The key professional works undertaken by our company are: Construction of water supply,
Irrigation, drainage system, civil works, access road and other related water works project.
Areas of specialization include the following:

 Main involvements in the civil, water construction sector

 Town and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Works
 Large, medium, small scale Irrigation Works
 Urban Drainage and Flood Protection Works
 Agricultural field preparation work
 Supplies of all construction material
 Supplies of electromechanical and installation

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DESIGN AND STRUCTURE
To achieve its strategic goal, the company is managed by Board of directors, which is
composed mainly of the owners of the company who makes strategic decisions and prepare
companywide policies and procedures to guide and lead all other management and employees
of the organization towards achieving the ultimate Goal of the Organization.

General responsibilities of the Board are; appointing, and monitoring of executive staff,
Clarify the mission of the organization, Approve long term plans, Ensure financial stability,
Assess board performance, Oversees the administration and monitoring of grants and
Conduct regular meetings.
At Operational level the company is managed by General Manager who is appointed by the
Board of directors. The manager has the responsibility of managing the overall operations of
the company towards achieving its strategic goal. The overall Organisational Structure of our
company is demonstrated below.

With this organizational structure the company is arranged in to organizational units having
different functional department on the basis of the company’s major activities.
Generally, the functional units of HKB Construction plc are discussed as follow:

Human Resources Department: The HR department is responsible for staff recruitment and
training, record keeping, compensation and benefits, and employee relations issues.
Financial Department: The financial department is responsible for management of the
company’s cash flow and ensuring there are sufficient funds available to meet the day to day
payments.
Marketing and Supply Chain Department: The marketing department is responsible for
market research, marketing strategy, sales, advertising, promotion, pricing, product
development, and public relations activities. Purchasing department’s main role is purchasing
supplies and materials used in the projects and company daily needs.
Project Operations Department
Project department is responsible for scheduling and managing of each project. The project
manager needs to decide the budget, assign employees and their duties to complete the job,
oversee the safety of workers. They need to make sure the construction work can be well
completed according to the contract. Under this department, the engineering department is
responsible for the planning of the construction project.

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 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF
HKB CONSTRUCTION PLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS
(Source: HR Department of the Company)
GENERAL MANAGER

HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICE OPERATIONAL MARKETTING AND SUPPLY STRATEGIC

FINANCE MANAGER
MANAGER ENGINEER MANAGER CHAIN MANAGER PLANER

QUANTITY ELECTROMECHANICAL QUALITY AND

SITE ENGINEER
SURVEYOR EXPERT MATERIAL ENGINEER

FORMAN ACCOUNTANT

GAROUP
MASON CARPENTER BARBENDER PLUMBER ELECTRICIAN
LEADER

LABORERS TIME KEEPER

LEADERSHIP STYLE

Currently the General Manager, Mr Habtamu Abdisa, follows the technocratic leadership
style in which major decisions are made by discussing with technical experts in respective
professions. For example in water supply projects decision are made by consultation of group
of experts in civil engineering, Hydraulic engineering, Electro mechanical experts etc. in
addition to this the manager and other middle managements of the company exercises
management by walking about. Leaders’ mostly participates in works of floor workers to
motivate them in achieving their target.

CULTURES

HKB Constructions organizational culture is influence by the leadership style and the
leadership style in the company promotes a culture of cooperation and teamwork. The
leadership is humble and mostly encouraging every staffs to work responsibility without
being supervised and controlled by top management. Due to this most staffs gives their
maximum effort and works in cooperation with other staffs for the achievement of the
organisational goal.

WORK ENVIRONMENT AND JOB SATISFACTION

As part of its human resource policy, the company has established and maintained effective
working relationships with employees. Employees have gained substantial rights within the
workplace. As a result, most employees works with their subordinates and top management
with a sense of responsibility mutual respect. At the top management level of the company
employment decisions such as discharges, layoffs, and demotions are made with care and
good reasons. Due to this most of employees of the company are happy with their work in the
company despite some complains about salary issues.

The company strive to improve the quality of work life, implementing productivity
improvement programs as well as improving health and safety at work. The company’s
primary health and safety focus was on the physical work environment. Similarly, the
company is doing all it can to build a creative and open workplace.

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REFORM AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

As the company is a growing organisation, I have observed that most of its business are
changing constantly. Most of employees of the company are welcoming to changes of
different kind. The management also applies a continuous improvement philosophy in which
all workers are encouraged to continuously improve their performance, skill and overall the
organisation performance.

CONCLUSIONS

In studying the Organisational behaviour of HKB Construction Plc I have come to understand
that a number of factors come together to determine the behaviour of its employees at work
and its organizational consequences.

The company and its employees are mostly influenced by the policy of the organisation and
the style of leadership exercised by the management. Most employees are motivated and
happy with their work and their subordinates.
Thus, organizations and its workers exist in a constant state of flux, receiving and
transforming inputs from the environment and returning those transformed inputs in the form
of finished goods and services. The employees come from various backgrounds and have
varying abilities and skills, differing motivational levels, and different ambitions. These
workers communicate, make decisions, show leadership, and handle power and
organizational politics as they carry out their assigned activities.
The organisational processes largely determine the nature and quality of interpersonal and
intergroup relations within the workplace and, as such, influence ultimate organizational
performance.

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REFERENCES

Odette, Anamaria P, Juan P and Milton (2020), Assessing Organizational Behavior: A Case
Study in a Colombian Retail Store, IBIMA Business Review, Vol. 2020 (2020), Article ID
261423, DOI: 10.5171/2020.261423

Hemaloshinee. V & Nomahaza. M (Jan 2017), A case study of Organizational Behaviour

and Resistance to changes in Malaysia’s Commercial Banking Industry, Universiti
Technology Malaysia, IIUM Journal of Case Studies in Management: Vol.8, No. 1/2: 24-34,
2017 ISSN 2180 -2327

Unnamed Author, (Dec 29, 2012), An Introduction to Organizational Behavior (v. 1.1),
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/) license, Creative Commons, Mountain
View, CA 94042, USA

Ananthalakshmi. M (Nov, 2014), Impact of Human Resource Management (HRM) Practices

on Employee Performance (A case of Telekom Malaysia), Malaysia, International Journal of
Accounting & Business Management.

Daniel Awoke (2018), HKB Construction PLC Company Policy Manual, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, HKB Construction PLC