25 Short Management Answer - Assignment Example

Short Questions A formal organization is an entity in which intra-organisation structures and procedures are strictly followed to achieve the goals of an organisation. On the other hand, informal organisation is a social structure whose primary focus is to make people work together in an organisation in a best possible way. Therefore, policies and procedures are more defined in a formal organisation rather than in an informal one. 2. The organisation which is controlled by the government is known as public sector organisation for example justice, or police departments etc. A private sector organisation is the one which is run by private individuals to make profit for the shareholders of the organisation. A public sector is responsible to entire public but private sector is only responsible to its shareholders. 3. Employment is an agreement between an employee and an employer to perform certain tasks to achieve pre-defined aims. An employee is a person who is hired to perform some specific job in an organisation and an employer is a person or an entity which hires employees and directs them to perform work in a good manner. 4. The purpose of management in an organisational context is to interlock people together to reach desired goals and objectives. The complete management process is comprised of planning, staffing, directing, and controlling a system to accomplish useful outcomes. 5. The environmental forces that can impact an organisation include political, economic, societal, technological, legal and ecological forces. Therefore, to operate under the impact of these forces an organisation has to develop strategies which may allow it to expand its strengths and overcome weaknesses. 6. The notion economic man was first used in the late nineteenth century and the term Homo economicus is used in economic theories for man as a rational human being, who is capable of making judgments towards the defined ends. 7. When work is considered to be a moral obligation then it means that it is being performed to protect the interest of others. For example, Microsoft claims that it works to protect the interest of shareholders by hiring and recruiting the best workers, therefore, Microsoft is working in consideration to its moral obligations towards the shareholders. 8. Labour market is the market of suppliers of labour services and employers. This market differs from other markets because it functions when the suppliers of labour and employers interact. 9. Profession can be defined as a work based on specialised educational training and provides services to others in return to direct and definite compensation. Examples of profession include lawyers, professors, engineers, teachers etc. 10. The term rational form of organisation is used to define a model that explains the structures of different organisations to attain the defined goals and objectives. For example, a bureaucratic organisation is a form of rational organisation where the authority flows from top to bottom. Of hierarchy. 11. Leisure time is the time spent on recreational activities rather than on compulsory activities (such as eating, sleeping). It is also known as free time or discretionary time which is spent out of work. 12. The recent study of work foundation indicated that self employed people tend to be happiest in their work because such a work is more individualist and they start producing the best they can give and take pride in it. 13. The term job security is the probability of whether a person will keep on his job or he will become unemployed. High job security means that the chances of the person to get unemployed are lower. The factors that affect the job security are economy, current business constitutions and employee’s personal skills. 14. Specialisation of tasks refers to a set of skills that is required to complete a task or piece of work. This concept has laid the foundation of division of labour. Specialisation of tasks result in the compartmentalisation of an individual’s thought because it allows the people not to have a general understanding of the world to become successful. Therefore, individuals should have enough knowledge and skills in their area of interest. 15. In bureaucracy the authority flows from top to bottom and the accountability is higher as compared to other forms of organisations, therefore, higher authority, accountability and less control of bottom level people in decision making, enhanced the overall control of upper management over processes. 16. Taylor developed his ideas on scientific management when he was seeking to discover the ways through which the efficiency of workers could be increased. He thought that decisions which are based upon rules of thumb needs to be replaced by precise procedures and practices. 17. There are four principles of Taylor’s ideas on scientific management. First principle is to replace decisions based on rule of thumb by methods based on scientific study of tasks. Second principle is to train and develop employees scientifically. Third principle is to provide instructions and supervision to the workers in performing tasks. Fourth principle is to divide tasks in which a way that managers may plan the tasks according to scientific principles and workers may perform them. 18. Work organisation under Fordism is different because the planning process does not take place at factory floor and managers plan it. The standardisation of product, mass production through technology and elimination of workers from production process are the three principles of Fordism. Moreover, without involving the workers in designing the process, the managers integrate the people in production process. 19. Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne Experiments concluded that work is a group activity and to determine workers’ morale, need for security and recognition is very important. The experiments also found that a worker’s attitude and behaviour is affected by the social demands. Moreover, it was also found that group collaboration needs to be planned and informal groups require strong social controls. 20. To perform specific tasks in the workplace, the workers should have certain set of skills. The complication of the process is higher when the job requires higher and rare skills. This complication involved in performing tasks is known as complexity. 21. Components of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory are as follows: Physiological needs Safety Love/belonging Esteem Self-acutalisation 22. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is challenged on its lack of scientificity and validity of concepts by the researchers including Heylighten and Schott. Wahba criticises the theory because of its lack of supportive research evidence. Heylighten criticises the integrated conceptual structure of this theory. Moreover, the implications of this theory in today’s society are also criticised therefore, researchers argue that this theory needs to be updated. 23. Content theories of motivation attempt to explain factors within the individuals such as their needs and relative strengths to motivate them. On the other hand, process theories of motivation explain the dynamics of motivation and how it takes place. 24. Vroom’s expectancy theory of motivation takes into consideration three variables including valence, expectancy and instrumentality. Being an extension of contingency theory, it explains show people make decisions related to different behavioral alternatives and how their goals influence their individual performance. 25. Various researchers have been conducting research on health consequences of unsatisfying work experience. One of the researches highlighted that stress level is enhanced as a result of unsatisfying experiences and such patients show post-traumatic stress symptoms. For example, Jordanian nurses are at the risk of traumatic stress because of unsatisfying job experience (Jonsson & Halabi, n.d.). References Jonsson, A & Halabi, J. (n.d.) Work related post-traumatic stress as described by Jordanian emergency nurses’ accident and emergency nursing. [Online] 14(2), 89-96. Available from: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0965230206000075 [Accessed on 22 March 2010] Read More