NUST Business School HRM 241 – Organizational Behaviour Case Study Group Project Submitted to; Dr. Asad Amjad Submitted by; Maheen Ahsan 423575 Saamia Tariq Khan 409961 Syed Ibrahim 405682 Ziaullah Akhtar 398748 BSAF 2022 Date; 17th December 2023. Table of Contents Abstract ………………………………………………………………………………....... Background ………………………………………………………………………………. Employee Motivation and Satisfaction…………………………………………………. Open Work Culture The Office Space; Rewards and Incentives Strong Professional Rapport Decision Making and Problem Solving…………………………………………………. Creative Freedom Problems during the Pandemic Hierarchy – Authoritative or Democratic Conflicts and Negotiation………………………………………………………………… Disagreements Negotiations for Bigger Conflicts Role of Authority 3 3 5 8 10 Survey Results……………………………………………………………………………. 12 Potential Problems and Future Prospects……………………………………………….. 13 Questionnaire …………………………………………………………………………….. 15 Bibliography........................................................................................................................ 15 2|Page Synergy Dentsu. “ Creating a Positive Work Space for Creative Minds. Where Creativity Knows No Bounds, and Employee Satisfaction Knows No Limits! ” Abstract For this project, we had to visit a company and conduct interviews with a staff member using a questionnaire we created in compliance with the course syllabus. The goal was to see how the organization implemented techniques for problem-solving, conflict resolution and motivation to create a healthy work-environment within Synergy. Moreover, we had to find out what problems the organization was having and then provide potential fixes to address the shortfalls. In order to do this, Synergy promotes a culture of continuous growth and learning, where employees ask seniors and other coworkers for advice and feedback. The company also carries out policies and initiatives that create unity and togetherness within the workforce, provide programs for employee recognition, and attend to the basic needs of its employees. The results show how these policies' adoption at Synergy has produced a willing and motivated staff, which has enhanced decision-making, boosted productivity, and given workers a happy and satisfying place to work. Background Synergy Dentsu is a well-known advertising agency that was established in 1999 in Karachi. Through strategic advertising, cutting-edge social media management, and inspired creativity, they aim to propel brands into the spotlight. The company later expanded and opened branches in Islamabad and Lahore. The branch we chose for our project is “Synergy Group Office” located in F-10 Markaz, Islamabad. This office currently has 48 employees. The company focuses on a good work environment to allow creativity and job satisfaction, therefore better job performance. Many well-known establishments like Askari Bank, Huawei, and Mobilink are their clients. 3|Page We became aware of the agency through a friend who had an internship there. We interviewed two people for this project, the Executive Director, Mr. Khurram Pervaiz, and another employee who works at the Islamabad branch. The interview was conducted on 23rd November, 2023. It lasted around 33 minutes and the employees were helpful enough to respond to our satisfaction. Other employees at Synergy also helped us out by filling in our digital “Google Docs” survey. We are thankful to Synergy for sparing us time from their busy schedule. Synergy talks about its work culture on the official website. 4|Page Improving Work Environment During the interview, Mr. Khurram talks about how employee satisfaction and the job environment as whole in a number one priority. The three topics we discussed were employee motivation, decision making and problem solving, and how conflicts are negotiated. Examples were given for each of the following topics as well; any past events where employees had to deal with any problems and what Synergy does to improve these conditions. 1. Employee Motivation and Satisfaction The importance of employee motivation in the ever-changing corporate world of today cannot be emphasized. Developing a motivated workforce goes beyond just a simple administrative duty. It is a strategic necessity that directly affects the general success and long-term viability of any firm. Employee motivation is the engine that pushes them to go above and beyond, fostering creativity, productivity, and a great work environment. As the lifeblood of a company, motivated and engaged workers not only help the organization accomplish its goals individually and collectively, but they also significantly influence the company's reputation and capacity to change with the times. Open Work Culture The company thinks that cooperation and trust are woven together by good communication. Open lines of communication are highly valued by the company, enabling staff members to freely voice their thoughts and concerns. Annual performance reviews continue to be standard procedure, giving staff members a chance to consider their work experience. Employees can self-evaluate during this review and provide their thoughts on their job satisfaction, challenges faced, and recommendations for development. Employee involvement in major decisions can have a positive impact and increase their sense of personal ownership and connection with the company. Involving a worker in important decisions might motivate them. Mr. Khurram Pervaiz believes that what motivates employees the most at Synergy is the “open work culture”. Because Synergy is a creative agency, the work environment is pretty relaxed. The office space had comfortable seating and bean bags around the place. Some rooms had music playing to allow the creative thinking while other rooms were quiet for the employees that prefer 5|Page that. The system of hierarchy and controlling authority can be one of the biggest demotivaters an organization can have. At Synergy this system is not followed and each employee is given their own creative freedom. Nobody gets an edge over anyone else. Whenever any employee feels like taking a break, the office has arcade games set up that employees could go and play. The Office Space; 6|Page Rewards and Incentives Synergy’s mantra consists of having a pool of people with different sorts of strengths. When you have different people with different skills coming together, this is the epitome of where synergy gets created. If you have some incentive behind doing your job, you are motivated more to finish the task. The incentive could be improving your own skills or some financial benefits. Financial benefits include, first and foremost, the pay. There are yearly evaluations done to see which employee deserves appraisals or promotions. Besides this, there are many non-monetary benefits that come along with working at synergy. Permanent Employees are given medical facilities. Free tea and coffee is given in the office. A certain company that’s working with Synergy would provide the employee freebies. Employees are also invited to different events. Synergy recently launched a movie “Maula Jutt” and the whole office was given free tickets for the movie. Strong Professional Rapport The tight-knit workforce and coworker relationships improve job satisfaction as well. Employees have different personalities, backgrounds, and experiences, so different events take place to cater to each individual’s preferences. What Synergy also tries to do is find common areas. Badminton court is set up near the office building and employees go play. Cricket matches and Bonfires are also enjoyed. Synergy’s office has a great rooftop and employees come together to enjoy their evening tea there. A projector was set up on the rooftop and the employees even had a movie night. There are future plans for some picnics as well. 7|Page 2. Decision Making and Problem Solving Proficiency in problem-solving and decision-making are essential components of organizational success in the complex world of work. The foundation of productive and sustainable workplaces is not just a desirable skill set, but also the capacity to negotiate obstacles, make wise decisions, and come up with workable solutions. Achieving corporate objectives requires the ability to accurately assess, synthesize, and make decisions, regardless of whether one is faced with ordinary operational obstacles or complex strategic challenges. Strong problem-solving and decision-making abilities are essential for both collaborative cooperation and effective leadership. They enable people to turn challenges into opportunities, spurring innovation and leading businesses toward a future characterized by success and prosperity. Creative Freedom Synergy is one of the very few organizations that believe in complete autonomy when it comes to decision making. The objective needs to be set out clearly and there is a road map towards it. The organization recognizes that more experience does not mean greater skillset and each individual’s ideas and opinions are seen as important. During trainings, employees are encouraged and advised to bring forward anything that could teach the rest of the company something. People with different skills work at Synergy including fresh graduates and even interns. Seasoned veterans come from different industries to work at Synergy who are placed according to their skillset and abilities. There is a great pairing program and when teams are made to work on a project, seasoned professionals as well as some freshers are put together to give the client what they need. Authority is not given based on years of experience, but rather on the creative thinking and skillset each employee has to offer. 8|Page Synergy has a weekly meeting “Leadership Empowerment Committee”, founded by Mr. Ahmed Kapadia. LEC stands for the idea that every employee owns the office. The employees themselves divide the office space among themselves, e.g, who is in charge of IT and equipment and who takes up security, entertainment or office cleaning. This creates a parallel helping system for the staff to get supported by the senior or managerial level staff. Problems during the Pandemic During Covid and the lockdown, the company had to face many problems. Some employees were sick at home and very few came to the office before government lockdown was announced. There was a lot of confusion in Pakistan, especially during those beginning months. That greatly disrupted the entire chemistry between teams and people. The economy was not doing well and businesses were shutting down. The organization also had to see how it was going to manage its own employees, how they would grow and how the pay scale could be kept the same. To overcome this, office was run during normal office hours, but, platforms like ‘Zoom’ and ‘Microsoft Teams’ were used to keep in touch. This way even though employees were working from a corner in their own homes, they still felt like they were a part of the office. Hierarchy – Authoritative or Democratic Goals and objectives are set up with a mixed effort between the clients and the employees. The client has a particular need that they communicate. The team comes in with a joint effort and convey their own ideas and strategies. The leadership is more democratic than authoritative. A structure is already set in place and some people do have to take on their roles as the authority figure like the manager. However, on a day to day basis, the work is done with more of a collaborative approach. To communicate with each other, Synergy has whatsapp groups where one employee can send his idea and other coworkers would give their own opinions and feedbacks on it. Employees also talk about new things they learnt or any new course they might have taken. In case of emergencies like fire, proper SOPs are set up that need to be followed. In case of economic or political threat, if the organization senses that the staff is at threat, there are certain SOPs set up for that as well. 9|Page 3. Conflicts and Negotiation Negotiations and disagreements become essential elements of organizational dynamics in the everchanging professional scene. These components are vital threads in the complex web of workplace connections, far from being interruptions. Conflicts are a natural part of life and, when handled skillfully, may be sources of innovation and progress, regardless of the origins i.e, differing viewpoints, conflicting interests, or limited resources. In a similar vein, negotiations—a deft art of discovering common ground amidst disagreements—are essential instruments for accomplishing group goals and settling conflicts. It is not only the responsibility of managers to resolve issues amicably and negotiate well; these skills are essential to the resilience and prosperity of any organization. Accepting that disagreements will inevitably arise and appreciating the importance of negotiations are essential to creating a cooperative and peaceful workplace where obstacles are replaced by chances for fruitful communication and understanding. Disagreements Mr.Khurram says; “One person’s creative can be totally different to what another person’s creative can be”. At firms like Synergy, most things are subjective and conflicts are bound to happen. Every person on the team is working for the same employee but they all might have a different opinion on it. Smaller conflicts occur for a variety of reasons like difference in taste, aesthetic sense, differences in personality and limited resources. E.g, during a campaign one creative guy had an idea for a line to be used while the other creative guy thought that the line is too ‘orthodox’. The client was also not sure what they wanted, whether to play it safe or go all out with their campaign. With the creative liberty given at Synergy, employees feel comfortable going and giving their ideas, and presenting rationales of why they think their idea works better. Both of these employees then came up with their thought processes. They presented these to the client and the client ended up deciding which idea they liked better. In a robust environment like the one at Synergy, it becomes difficult to come up with and follow a long drawn out process. Everything happens there and then, and it gets solved there and then. With the work pressure and in the heat of the moment, tempers do flare, people might raise their 10 | P a g e voice and someone might misunderstand. People are passionate about their own ideas. These ideas do collide. Negotiations for Bigger Conflicts Small conflicts at creative firms like this are normal, however, bigger conflicts like personal attacks are not acceptable and strict action would be taken against any employee found breaking the disciplinary actions placed. Personal bashing or anything along those lines is strictly not allowed and a person found guilty would have to face the consequences. Usually negotiations aren’t really needed per se due to the strong bond between the employees in the office. But, when a major conflict arises, an authoritative figure can help find middle ground between both parties. Someone acts as an intermediary and convinces the employees to meet halfway. If an employee decides to leave due to a major issue, there is a proper way to handle that as well. The person gets interviewed. The firm tries to understand the problems and the challenges its facing, and what it needs to do to fix those and further improve the work environment. Role of Authority Even though when it comes to the tasks given to employees, they take most of the creative decisions themselves, but when it comes to negotiations, authority does play an important role. Employees respect authorities as a decision-making figure. The firm has a well-established HR department in case has any complaints regarding a coworker or any other issue. Besides this, proper conflict management training is given. Organogram CEO and Chairman Ahmed Kapadia Executive director Khurram Pervaiz Account Director Yasir Farooq 11 | P a g e Senior Creative Director Ferrukh Syed Associate Creative Director Haroon Riaz Creative Director Kayzad Giara Survey Results 12 | P a g e Potential Problems and Future Prospects Synergy has put in place some great efforts to improve the work environment and employee satisfaction, however, after the interview we realized that Synergy Dentsu could face some challenges that can impact their growth along with the potential success of the organization. 1. Problem: They might struggle with limited financial resources, which can impact the employee benefits, and development opportunities. Because certain skillsets are demanded for specific tasks, there can be a lack of opportunities for career growth and advancements. Solution: Resource allocation should be prioritised based on employee needs by considering creative solutions like cross training. Cross-training is the process of teaching staff members various tasks or competencies while they are working. Rather than concentrating on just one job or duty, people receive training to become skilled in a variety of roles or tasks. By giving team members a more diverse skill set, this method seeks to increase their adaptability, which can benefit the company as a whole as well as the workers. Cross-training ensures that multiple team members are capable of carrying out critical tasks, which helps to improve flexibility in job assignments, boost overall team efficiency, and lessen the impact of employee absences or turnover. Additionally, it can improve comprehension of the entire workflow, promote teamwork, and help develop a workforce that is more flexible and resilient. Synergy should implement training programs, mentorship initiatives, and career development plans. Encourage internal promotions and provide clear paths for career progression. 2. Problem: The lack of clarity in job roles may lead to confusion and inefficiency Solution: Before starting a task, the job roles, responsibilities, expectations should be clearly defined before the employee starts the job. Then, regularly review and update the job description as the roles evolve. Creative freedom should be given but at the same time, an authoritative figure should be put in charge just to make sure the task distribution is fair and that everybody is easily able to finish their given task. If not, these tasks can be swapped. 13 | P a g e 3. Problem: There aren’t many conflicts at Synergy however, if some may arise it could become a big problem as Synergy doesn’t have proper plan to deal with something like that. In small teams and a place where people are so passionate about their work, things can become heated and communication breakdowns can occur at some point. Solution: Managers could offer conflict management training courses to help staff members handle conflict situations more skillfully. This type of teaching encompasses a wide range of subjects and forms. It gives workers knowledge on how to prevent being taken advantage of by someone who uses their position of authority to achieve their goals. Additionally, it teaches students about the various conflict resolution techniques. One-on-one meetings, small-group facilitations, and one-day workshops can all be used to provide these. HR professionals ought to base their choice of strategy on the kind of dispute that needs to be resolved at work. These training sessions can be held every three months by Synergy, which has a positive workplace culture. Experts say conflict management training can be especially helpful for employees exhibiting passive-aggressive behavior, and for intensely angry employees. With lesser and healthy conflict management, job and work satisfaction will increase leading to a better sense of belonging to the organization. 14 | P a g e Questionnaire 1. What motivates your employees the most? Is it the financial or non-monetary benefits? 2. Can you tell us about an event where an employee needed some motivation and you had to push them to do better? 3. What leadership style does Synergy have? Is it more authoritative or democratic? 4. How are most decisions made? 5. Can you talk about a problem that the organization recently dealt with? 6. How would you define conflict and what steps are taken to negotiate these conflicts? Are there any formal conflict resolution procedures in place? 7. Can you talk about a recent conflict in the workplace? What happened and how was it overcome? Bibliography 20 ways employees at Thomson Reuters are motivated by their work. (n.d.). Retrieved from Thomson Reuters: https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/careers/careers-blog/20-ways-employees-aremotivated-by-work.html https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/careers/careers-blog/20-ways-employees-are-motivated-bywork.html Spinoza, J. (2022, February 2). 10 Common Workplace Challenges and Solutions. Retrieved from BLOG / SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT: https://www.zoomshift.com/blog/workplace-challenges-andsolutions/ https://www.zoomshift.com/blog/workplace-challenges-and-solutions/ Synergy Dentsu. (n.d.). Retrieved from Synergy Dentsu: https://synergydentsu.com/ 15 | P a g e
