Managing the Difference between Individuals is More Relevant to Today's Organisations - Term Paper Example

"Managing the difference between individuals is more relevant to today's organisations than ever before" With the current era of globalisation and technological advances, the whole organisation often goes through a period of rapid changes. We are at a time when change is the norm. As the demands of the business world become more complex, companies need to deal with their human resources in flexible and innovative ways that are in the best interests of the organisations, to have a more efficient and productive workforce. Today's organizations, whether they are corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, or any other form of public or private entity, have the same core need for human coordination as before but the equation has subtly altered because of the increase in opportunities for the workforce worldwide. This essay analyses the necessity of managing the differences between individuals in the current scenario to meet the targets of the organisation, by aligning individuals to organisation goals and effectively making them work as a team and meeting increasing productivity and efficiency goals. Introduction A growing economy challenges everyone with problems of finding and retaining the best in the industry. When the multi faceted team comes together, harmonizing the work place and managing the differences between individuals becomes necessary to attain organisational goals. A motivated and contented individual performs better and contributes towards reaching organisational goals. Today, the customer is given a lot of priority and the emphasis is on customer service. It order to meet these expectations, dependence on the human workforce has increased tremendously. Organisations, Past and Present - a comparison In the past organisations often had the upper hand. The organisation culture was more conservative and traditional. The hierarchy was adhered to and the lower attrition rates often contributed to a sense of complacency on the part of the management in making efforts to retain the workforce. Today's organisations boast of "shorter chains of command." Unnecessary levels of management have been done away with. Organisations in the past operated on the basis of "Unity in command " principle. It meant that one employee only reported to one supervisor. This was supposed to avoid the potential confusion when an employee gets directions from more than one source. Today, organisations are using more cross-functional teams, task forces and horizontal structures that cater to customers more than before. Employees often find themselves working for more than one" boss". Past organisations had a narrower span of control meaning lower number of people reporting to one single person. Smaller spans of control require more managers and are more costly, while larger spans are less expensive due to the requirement of a reduced number of managers and also are more efficient because of the reduced levels in the management. Organisations today opt for a wider span of control as chains of command are shortened and there is more trust in "empowerment", individual managers are taking on a larger number of subordinates who act with lesser direct supervision. Organisations today have understood the need to delegate more and empower the employees by giving them sufficient authority to make relevant decisions when required. Unlike in the past, this saves the managers from micro managing and also helps the employee own the responsibility for his own decisions. This has also led to the decentralisation of authority to a certain extent, while centralising the information with the help of the technological advances. Reducing the number of staff by using specialised staff increases the operating efficiency of the organisations today. Also, in the past subtly manipulating the workforce was slightly easier due to lack of myriad opportunities. Today, employees know they have many options. They have the upper hand. If the company needs them, it has to work hard to keep them. They need to have a unique reason to stay on. That could be the job path, money, perks, benefits or stock interests. The work force today is also more diverse. Cultural and individual differences are more pronounced adding to the complexity. It has become imperative to address this complexity head on and maintain harmony in the workplace. It also involves motivating the workers to align themselves towards a common goal as the organisation. Leadership skills of a manager Leadership is a process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective and directs the organization in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent. Leaders carry out this process by applying their leadership attributes, such as beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge, and skills The leadership abilities of the manager aid them in achieving their goals for their organisation. It is directly dependent upon their ability to accept and work with the changes occurring in the individuals who constitute the workforce. Conflicts will arise and conflict management is vital. Leadership qualities have become indispensable if goals have to be reached. The road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders: Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most. Inspire a shared vision - Next, share you vision in words that can be understood by your followers. Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem. Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do...a leader shows that it can be done. Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers' heart, while keeping the pains within your own. Traits that seem to have a positive impact on leadership seem to include drive, integrity and self-confidence among others. Leaders are supposed to have the following people management factors towards their team. Consistency: Team members should all be treated in a comparable way without favourites or discrimination. Respect: Different team members have different skills and these differences should be respected. Inclusion: Involve all team members and make sure that people's views are considered. Honesty: You should always be honest about what is going well and what is going badly in a project. Leaders exert influence on the environment through the goals and performance standards they establish, the values they establish for the organization and the business and people concepts they establish. When the goals are high and the high standards are followed upon in company wide strategies, these organisations are said to have successful leaders. Values reflect the ideals of the organization for its employees, customers, investors, vendors, and surrounding community. These values determine the integrity of the methodology of the business process. Concepts define what products or services the organization will offer. These leaders often serve as representatives of the organisation to the outside world and are assumed to imbibe and align with the organisational culture. In the Four Framework Approach, Bolman and Deal (1991) suggest that leaders display leadership behaviours in one of four types of frameworks: Structural, Human Resource, Political, or Symbolic. The style can either be effective or ineffective, depending upon the chosen behaviour in certain situations. In a Structural Framework, the leader is a social architect whose leadership style is analysis and design. In a Human Resource Framework, the leader is a catalyst and his style is supportive and empowerment. In a Political framework, the leader uses persuasion first and coercion only when necessary. In a Symbolic Framework, the leader is a visionary and serves as an inspiration. From the above it can be seen that practically it would very difficult to slot into any one particular style. A style that works for one entity may not necessarily work for another one. The Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid (1985) uses two axes: "Concern for people" is plotted using the vertical axis while "Concern for task" is along the horizontal axis. By going to the extremes, that is, people who score on the far end of the scales, we come up with four types of leaders: Authoritarian (9 on task, 1 on people) These leaders are task oriented and hard on their workers. There is little or no allowance for cooperation or collaboration. Team Leader (9 on task, 9 on people) These are high task and high people relationship leaders. These people lead some of the most productive teams. Country Club (1 on task, 9 on people) This person uses predominantly reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the team to accomplish its goals. Impoverished (1 on task, 1 on people). These leaders are noncommittal and often do not provide any direction to the team. Current organisations due to their wider span, and decentralisation of power and more decision-making capabilities of the employees in the lower grid, often benefit from managers who can be a "Team Leader", who is high on tasks as well as people and this often translates into higher productivity from the individual and from the team and hence from the organisation as a whole. However, the other leadership styles cannot be discounted because of certain situational necessities where they may be called for. Motivation Managing differences of individuals is geared towards one goal: increasing the performance of the workforce in order to increase productivity in the current highly competitive and complex world. Another important tool that helps achieve this is motivation. Motivation is the combination of a person's desire and energy directed at achieving a goal. It spurs action on he part of the individual stretching him beyond their normal capabilities. Motivation can be intrinsic - satisfaction, feelings of achievement; or extrinsic - rewards, punishment, or goal obtainment. Not all people are motivated by the same thing and over time their motivations might changes. When there is a gap in the expected levels of performance, the manager should be able to analyse the situation by looking beyond the symptoms, find a solution, focus on the problem, and implement a plan of action. The whole intent should be proactive and positive with the underlying assumption that each individual wants to do the best he can. Appraisals should taken up seriously and without bias and motivational tools should be utilised without any kind of discrimination whatsoever to the employees. Current organisations are definitely more open to a multicultural workforce due to the globalisation of the workspace and try their best to address grievances. Leadership strategies to manage individual differences in current organisations Understanding motivational differences: Openly acknowledging that motivation is very diverse and what works for one individual may not work for another is fundamental. This is more so now with the multicultural workforce of today accept that differences do exist but the values are the same. Regularly recognizing the individual excellence in pursuit of team goals through verbal praise, individual or group awards, and staff celebrations, such as outings. Invest time to understand the individual: While some are driven, some are loyal, some are here for learning new skills and some are laid back. Understanding individual agendas will help to instil the knowledge in the work process. Recognize that you're the "boss" is now a facilitator, coach, and teacher. Due to " empowerment" gaining acceptance, it is easier to delegate work to the right person when an understanding is reached. Work with the staff to set objectives and determine guidelines for performance. Moreover, the manager's influence is shown in the work environment. Interest, tolerance and trust are necessary for teamwork. Giving credit where it is due motivates people to perform better. Seeking and providing feedback on a regular basis helps keep staff involved and improves the probability of progress. Using questionnaires, surveys, and feedback sessions help a great deal. The manager should also have the objectiveness to accept some blunt employee feedback as well. The key is to follow through on issues identified in the survey, to ensure entire staff is involved in the solution, and to re-survey periodically to maintain momentum and measure change over time. Individuals on the team require regular feedback. Weekly or biweekly reports give the status of the work getting done and serve as a basis for encouragement of the employees or provide reviews to help scale to expectations. This way the manger stays on top of the things but doesn't get bogged down by too much information. Keeping lines of communication open allows the staff to more direct routes to leadership and more latitude in their own jobs and decision-making. Providing sufficient relevant training to get the job done. This minimises differences between performers and non-performers who lack critical skills, by giving them an opportunity to learn. Cultural differences may cause a lack of skills and this gives them a chance to scale. Organizations should be judicious in developing teams. Mismatched teams create more problems than solutions. Teams without purpose undermine the credibility of this strategy. All teams should be provided a clear charge, a budget, and milestones for their work product. Conflicts will arise. Circumventing them will only inflame them. Adequate conflict management has to be attempted proactively. Communicating with the involved staff directly and resolving issues will deter the issue from being blown up out of proportion. Above all, individuals should be informed to deal with conflict in an assertive and productive fashion. Differences in interpretation due to miscommunication can be lessened. Provide adequate compensation packages that offer flexibility and can be tailored to the individual needs of the worker. Maintaining pay that is competitive with the marketplace, providing apt annual rises to performance against agreed upon goals, and providing frequent, bonuses in recognition of individual or team efforts will satisfy and motivate the worker. Make the learning experience positive and pleasant. Understand that the human capital is indispensable for the organisation's growth and help nurture it. Employees are given, based on their motivation, opportunities to engage in challenging projects, onsite training, and outside learning opportunities. Establish an adequate advancing career path for the desired employee. Any negativity stemming from an employee needs to be curbed before it demoralises the entire team. Conclusion Organisational life is continually changing, and with this individuals sometimes find themselves in uncomfortable places. Management must devote energy and resource to successfully manage these transitions. The challenge for managers is essentially to recognise that their organisations are made up of individuals whose are unique, and this combination of role and personality will contribute differently but can collectively be beneficial to the goals of the organisations. An important role of a manager is to motivate the people working on a project. People are motivated by interaction, recognition and personal development. Openness with information is a simple way of ensuring all group members feel part of the group. Good communications also strengthens group cohesion as it promotes understanding. Managing their differences and channelling their skills in the right direction, creates harmony in the working environment overall improving the morale of the worker and improving the productivity of the organisation. Sources Kouzes, James M. & Posner, Barry Z. The Leadership Challenge San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.1997 Pomerantz, Paul CAE All Together Now: Managing Today's Work force [Online] June 2000 http://www.centeronline.org/knowledge/article.cfmID=935&ContentProfileID=122717&Action=searching, 1st Nov 2005 Bolman, L. and Deal, T. Reframing Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 1991 Schermerhorn, John R, Jr. Management John Wiley and Sons Inc. Sixth Edition 2001 Blake, Robert R. and Mouton, Janse S. The Managerial Grid III: The Key to Leadership Excellence. 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