The Operation of the Firms Authority and Management Styles - Coursework Example

INSERT TITLE: Name: Institution: Instructor: Module: 29TH APRIL, 2009 Impact of changes in culture and shift of power dynamics within the organizations to the staff at engineering products Introduction Engineering products is a long established British engineering firm which is facing radical changes in its structuring system the firm has demonstrated the need to expand its business to other countries. The purpose for moving to other countries is to increase sales. There is change of power, management style and structures, and employment basis. These changes have brought tremendous effects to the staff in various ways. This paper gives a clear description of the operation of the firm’s authority and management styles. The paper also discusses the theories related to the case study of the engineering products. How power is exercised by the HQ-Radical structuralism The HQ Radical structuralism exercises its power from the top where decisions are made at the head quarter and the decentralized to the branches in other countries. Management structures are usually created at the international level. This is a way of bringing the managers from different countries to meet and exchange ideas. After receiving orders from the customers, the head quarter decides on which plants are going to receive the orders. The head quarter has more power in such decisions over the managers at the plant level who are highly depended on the Head quarter. Information on which plants are to receive the new orders is made by comparing the information on the performance of the plants in terms of quality and costs. The decision process starts at the top of head quarter centre going downwards to the managers at the plants who decide on which customers will be supplied by the factory. Supplies decisions are made the management level where local customers are supplied by local supplies. They extend their supplies to international customers due to various reasons such as increasing sales. Discussions may be made between managers and worker representatives on various subjects. If the management opposes completely to the head quarter decisions, they are forced through the use of sanctions to follow the decisions. The head quarter makes effort to persuade the managers but if they cannot be convinced then they can be fired in that case. The power here is coercive where force is used to enable the managers to come to line with the HQ decisions. The head quarter wants to maximize their profits through exploitation of workers The human resource function at the engineering products takes an active role in the international integration. Regular contacts were made to communicate with the managers often and giving them international assignments. There is standardization of personnel across boarders and the HQ would ensure this is in place in all the plants. The HQ did not have any formal structure with which employees would be represented. There were no strict legal actions on the management to recognize unions. The employee unions could not even force the management to recognize them. The European plants did not allow the formation of employee unions since there were no well established positions in the plants. The international integration of activities of the multinational affected the management in the sense that managers were not confined to particular countries. Senior managerial positions are filled by merit where nationalities of the managers are not considered as important. Managers are provided with bigger responsibilities in and outside their countries where they operate in a number of overseas national in the HQ. The managers are found to be more geographical mobile which provides them with the requirement of being more willing to spend most of their time on overseas assignments. The managers are required to comply with the requirements of the HQ. There are international making bodies such as the manufacturing councils in the HQ that regulate management duties. This ensures that management input to the formation of policies in the company is achieved and operate at the international level. Impact of the changes in engineering products (Spanish plant) Positive implications The Spanish plant has provided a great impact to the engineering products. This is because; it has led the HQ to investigate the working practices at the plant through its high productivity. The practice introduced at the Spanish plant has led to high profits for the organization. Engineers and staff from the HQ visited the plant encouraged more attention to be given to the particular practice. This formed a cellular assembly of the product by reorganizing it from linear production line into a U shaped cell. Many of the plants in the other countries were enhanced to adopt the cellular assembly that would increase their outputs. Negative implications In the Spanish plant, the use of U shaped cell required employees to become more responsible on many activities. Employees would undertake a wider range of tasks that before. This brought the need of multi-skilled operators in the plant who would work at any stage in the cells. In addition, the cell structure required fewer employees for the same output. This led to many employees being retrenched and this had a negative impact to the staff. The kind of power used at engineering products (French and Raven 1959) The power used at engineering products is both legitimate and coercive power in the sense that the people at the top expect what they say to be done by the managers and work representatives at the international plants. According to Simms et al (2000) legitimate power is a power that comes from the belief that someone has the right to make demands then expect fulfilment and conformity from others. This is exactly what the officers at the HQ expect from their juniors. The power is also coercive in the sense that the officers impose force where sanctions are used to ensure that the mangers comply with their expectations. Coercive power comes from believing that someone can penalize others for disobedience. The demands from the HQ that requires the managers do as told may bring many problems. Plant managers usually find themselves with less room for manoeuvring and they may end up resisting. Culture The organization has considered the culture of extending its businesses at the international level. This step by the company will benefit many employees and increase the sales of the company. Managers will also benefit from diverse experiences in the countries of operation. The organization manages its international operations on the basis of automotive divisions of customers. The customers have standardized their methods of production and working practices through the sharing of best practice across sites. This means that the customers benefit from the same services because the cars are produced in similar ways. Some times there are variations in the practices in the various countries. Due to this, different arrangements reflected the expectations of both plant managers and employees concerning fairness. Structure The structure of the company has its functions diversified to international levels to bring together managers of different plants across the countries. The company has adopted the structure of manufacturing councils where senior managing directors are able to meet and examine various processes in the plants. The company also adopts the structure of international college of engineering where engineers develop and learn about new manufacturing methods. The main function of the human resource at engineering products is to take more active role in international integration. This ensures that structures that can facilitate the creation of regular contacts between managers from different parts of the division. This will also enhance the management of international assignments. Motivation The organization has made tremendous efforts to ensure the standardization of production related differences of opinions between the HQ and the plant managers on the merits of a particular idea. The managers are not well motivated since the performance related pay is not the same for all the plants. The HQ established the principle of PRP in all the divisions of the plants which operated in variedly following discussions from the local managers and worker representatives. This reduced motivation to the managers and employees because the performance measures, the amount of the workforce covered and the amount paid subject to the performance measure differed among the plants. The HQ at Engineering Products provided that, the main way of ensuring that plant managers engaged in the sharing of best practice was the operation of internal competition for orders. This would influence volumes as well as manufacturing processes hence greater coordination of manufacturing processes (Linstead et al 2009). This will ensure that the world's best practices are adopted across the organisation. Organizational change Change management in the organization was delt with in various ways. The HQ created an international cadre of mangers who would manage given assignments overseas. The HQ has employed consultants who are responsible for starting different practices from one plant to the other. The HQ also encourages the managers from different plants to attend meetings that will enable them to share the best practices and discuss common initiatives. HR specialists meet on regular basis to discuss implications of integration on personnel practice. Management style The organization operates according to the classical management style in the sense that the HQ is mainly concerned with ensuring that there is efficiency in the organization. The managers are recruited on the basis of expertise. They are also distributed along the administrative areas of the organization. The HQ also uses bureaucratic management to manage the plants in the different countries. The management style in this organization can also be associated with the taylorsim because there is scientific selection of staff (Bratton et al 2007). The managers are given time to meet at the HQ to share the best practices and information. The management adopts taylorsim in order to get c heap labor where flexibility of labor is increased by more simple tasks. There is great potential for streamlining production where unnecessary tasks are eliminated, physical layouts improved and work speeded up. Authority The authority used in the organization is bureaucratic since the HQ defines the area responsibility and competence for each administrative. According to Jackson et al (2000) a bureaucratic organization has its regular activities distributed in a fixed way of official duties. Here the complex tasks are broken down into manageable parts where the state administration is divided into various departments. The managers are accountable to the officials at the HQ and this is the hierarchy of command and responsibility. In the hierarchy the managers and the employee representatives have to follow the given rules from the HQ. Radical structuralism The radical structuralism in the organization is exportation where the official focuses on structures, modes of domination, deprivation, contradictions within an objective with the social countries (Huczynski et al 2004). The objectives set at the HQ show how incidents arise in the socioeconomic circumstances. Manipulations There is abuse of power in the organization where the HQ practices cognitive mind control and discursive interaction. According to Brooks (2003) this king of power can power can be described as illegitimate domination confirming social inequality. The HQ interferes with the processes of understanding and has formed biased models and social representations where the staffs in different plants are not paid equally. The HQ is only concerned with ways in which they can benefit from exploiting the staff. Theories The classical theory Marx Weber and Taylor (1947) were highly concerned with the Motivation of people. They described that employees should be paid in order to be successful in their performance. At engineering products, employees are not well motivated since the payment among different plants id not equal. Weber and Taylor described employees as divorced from the product of their labor and from the process of production. Labor is considered external from the worker and this has social consequences where the people become alienated from themselves. The HQ and the staff are not in agreement about the payment terms (Lucey 1991) Human relations theory (Elton Mayo, 1949) Mayo was basically interested in the employee motivation and the commitment in the relationship between workers and management. He argued that the satisfaction of employees comes from recognition and security. Employees should feel part of the team above the monetary rewards. The HQ at engineering products motivates employees by encouraging them in discussions and attending meetings where best practices can be shared among them. However, there is less respect for the managers where sanctions are imposed for failure of coming into agreement with the HQ officers. Mayo argues that employee decisions should be respected and they should be valued on the basis of satisfaction and not pay. At engineering products, the HQ should be more concerned with the involvement of the staff in expressing their views and respecting them (parker et al 1967, pp.99-112). Contingency theory The contingency theory argues that there is no best way of managing organizations. For an organization to be effective in planning, organizing, leading and controlling, it must be tailored to the particular circumstances faced by the organization. The approach is referred to as situational approach in the sense that it assumes that there is no universal answer to such questions. The reason is that organizations, people and situations vary and change over time. The right thing to do depends on a variety of critical environmental and internal contingencies. The engineering products company can be described in this perspective because it changes its management styles over time. The production processes are also changed over time (Woodward & Burns 1965). Equity theory (Adams 1963) In his theory Adams was concerned with employee motivation on their jobs. He uses employee inputs and outputs to explain a fair balance that should be made on employees’ inputs and outputs. Engineering Products Company do not balance between the employee inputs and outputs hence they are found to be less motivated in this perspective. Adams claims that, finding this fair balance in organizations ensures the achievement of a strong and productive relationship. This leads to more contended and motivated employees. He argues that pay alone does not make employees motivated (McCauley et al 2007). Postmodern Theory Foucault was a French philosopher and made various remarks on post modernity in his post modern theory. In his argument, he describes that most people think that the permanent truths of human nature and society usually change through out history. Every day practices enable people to define their identities and systemize knowledge. He studied power and shifting patterns in power. These studies helped him to describe postmodernism. In his theory, Foucault argues that history is a chronology of inevitable facts. He discusses that knowledge usually changes throughout history due to uncertainties of what may happen in our organizations. This theory can be applied in the case of engineering products since the organization structures are changing through history. The HQ decides on which ways to go when faced with different and more complicated situations. The organization is changing throughout history (Foucault 1970). The radical approach In his theory mark demanded that organizations should be aimed at paying attention to the excellent practices in the field. According to mark (1995) the negative aspects should not be given much attention since they don’t add much value to the organization. However, the management can learn from the negative effect in the field. At engineering products this theory should be applied and employee strengths should be recognized than their negative impacts. The HQ puts more emphasis on their decisions without the effort that the staff has brought in the organization. The radical approach is necessary at engineering products. Conclusion In conclusion, engineering products gives an example of a competitive firm with a diverse coverage. The decision for the HQ to operate internationally led to restructuring of the business. The company uses a classical management style to organize its staff. The authority is bureaucratic where power is exercised from the top at the HQ. The firm uses a radical structuralism to explore in the international market. The change of structures and production processes has had great impact to the staff. The use of cells in the production system has led to fewer employees needed for the same amount of work and production. More output is achieved through the use of new production systems. The case study of engineering products relate to classical theories, contingency theories, human relation theory, equity theory, postmodern theory and radical theory. Employees are not well motivated in the organization and better management style is required to deal with employees’ satisfaction. Bibliography Adams, JS 1963, ‘Equity theory,’ balancing employee inputs and outputs. Bratton, J, Callinan, M, Forshaw, C & Sawchuk, P 2007, ‘Work and Organizational Behavior,’ understanding the workplace, Hampshire, Palgrave Macmillan. Brooks, I 2003 ‘Organization Behavior,’ Individuals, groups and organization, 2nd Ed, London, FT-Prentice hall. Fincham, R & Rhodes 2005, ‘Principles of Organization Behavior,’ 4th Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press. Foucault, M 1970, ‘The Order of Things,’ An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. New York: Pantheon. Huczynski, A & Buchanan, D 2004, ‘Organizational Behavior,’ 5th Edition. London, Prentice Hall. Jackson, N and Carter P 2000, ‘Rethinking Organizational Behavior,’ London, Prentice Hall. Linstead, S, Fulop, L & Lilley, S 2009, ‘Management and Organisation,’ A critical text, 2nd Ed, Hampshire, Palgrave MacMillan Simms, D, Fineman, S & Gabriel, Y 2000, ‘Organizing and Organizations,’ an Introduction, London, Sage. Marc M, 1995, ‘A Radical Approach to the Evaluation of Education for the Blind,’ 1995. McCauley, J, Duberley, J & Johnson, P 2007, ‘Organization Theory’ Challenges and Perspectives, London, Prentice Hall. Lucey, T. 1991, Management Information Systems, 6th Edition, London: DP Publications. Parker, S. R., Brown, R. K., Child, J., Smith, M. A. 1967, The Sociology of Industry, London: George Allen and Unwin, 99-112. Woodward, Joan & Burns, T 1965,’ Industrial Organization,’ Theory and Practice, London: Oxford University Press, 1965.   Read More