Introduction to Organisational Management - Assignment Example

?Introduction In the globalized economy of the 21st century, with the rise in the standard of living of people, the expectations of the s have increased manifolds. In a market with constantly shifting demands and opportunities one has to adapt to the changing trends by incorporating innovations and technology in the organization. The new economy has become knowledge based and is performance driven and the only companies which can excel in such a competitive scenario are the ones with flexible organizational trends and efficient management. An organization is driven by its leader and the best manager gives due consideration to the following key aspects of management; respect, participation, empowerment, teamwork and self management and progress. Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently and effectively. The first and foremost responsibility of a good manager is creating an atmosphere in which people from different disciplines and departments in the organization can form teams for successful accomplishments of projects. Moreover the work of each individual and teams need to be observed closely so that they may be recognized for their efforts if their work is up to the standards or they may be helped in improving the quality of their work. The next job is to improve efficiency of individuals and teams through employ development programs, stress management drills and achieving the right combination of teams according to the nature of the project. There are certain steps involved in the management and organization and the success lies with the correct execution of these steps. These steps include planning, organizing, leading and controlling. An organization is a deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose. Organizations have a distinct purpose which is achieved by the correct composition of people who carry out the assigned tasks following a specified structure. In the present scenario, a good organization should have flexible work arrangements, employee work teams and open communication systems with a healthy organizational culture. Organizations are changing because the world around them has changed and is continuing to change. These economic, societal and technological changes have created an environment in which the organizations have to adopt new and innovative organizational techniques and objectives to achieve success. An analysis of two companies based on flexible work arrangements, employee work teams, communication systems and organizational culture is presented in the following pages. Organizational Design and Structure The organizational structure is critical for a company as well as for its employees. The success or failure of a company depends highly on the organizational structure of the company. Moreover a good organizational structure gives provides better opportunities to the employees to progress, hence the success of individuals as well as company depends on the organizational structure. Organizational structure essentially means the way in which a company makes use of its resources, human resources in particular. The organizational structure of the company determines the chain of command in a company by setting a framework in which individuals are generally divided into groups who report to certain individuals in the management. A successful organizational structure is the one which is flexible and can adapt to the changing trends and conditions. The classic rigid styles of organizational structure in which individuals are divided into certain departments and each department performs a specific function are diminishing now. The new organizational structures are based on the changing market trends, global competition and the arrival of technology. The objective behind a flexible organizational structure is to make it capable of aligning with the changing trends so that it may create new opportunities. In order to create new products or services and to target new consumer markets in a globalized scenario the organization always need to modify its ways of executing things according to the conditions. A lot of multinational global organizations like General Electric and IBM changed their market strategies and even the consumer services with the changing trends. GE changed from a commodity company to a value-added services company (ge.com) while IBM changed from products to consulting and services (ibm.com). There are so many other motives behind change of organizational structures in companies which include concurrent engineering, globalization, business model reinvention and process reengineering etc. The organizational structure of most of the companies is based on Hierarchy of Authority. Under this mechanism the tasks are divided and distributed across the organization and this distribution and grouping of the employees into different departments is generally based upon technical expertise of individuals; with the individuals with similar type of skills and expertise placed in the same department. The individuals in each department wait for the instructions from the manager and report to the manager on the assigned tasks. The individuals are not do not take decisions on their own and depends on the managers for inter-departmental communication resulting in lesser efficiency. The newer approach to organizational structure is ‘diffused’ hierarchy in which the individuals are divided into groups and teams and each team consists of individuals different skills. The teams are autonomous enough to take decisions on their own according to the conditions and state of the project assigned. Such teams can effectively and efficiently work on inter-disciplinary projects. The first approach is classified as functional or divisional structure of organization while the second approach is classified as matrix structure of organization. Watsons Engine and Components is a company which essentially follows traditional organizational and management techniques and the organizational structure is more of a functional and divisional type. The division of staff is skill based and there are no employee development programs in the company which means that the employees are restricted to certain departments and perform specific jobs. The workers in such a division do not know about the status of the project and depends totally on managers for inter-departmental communication. This structure has certain advantages the most important of which is the centralized decision making model in which the decision making occurs at the top allowing more upper management control in the organization. It also motivates the workers and employees to work hard and improve their skills to achieve higher positions in the organizational structure. But these advantages are not being utilized by Watsons because of the existence of powerful trade union. But the disadvantages of poor communication and conflict between departments make this approach unsuitable for use. Moreover the employees in such an organizational structure start recognizing themselves as part of a particular department and not the company. This approach also results in varying workloads for different individuals; individuals in a particular department are under-stressed while others may be over-stressed. The case with H & M Consulting is a different story altogether where the organizational structure is the matrix type in which various different projects are assigned to different teams which are formed according to the skills required by the project. These teams consist of individuals with different skills and work together in a group to achieve the set goals and targets. The biggest advantage of this approach is that the manager of the team is assigned a project and the manager then selects its team from different departments and the number of the workers and their skill depends totally upon the nature and magnitude of the project. As a result the individuals work according to their full capacities and are never over-stressed. Moreover there are no communication issues and each individual in the team is well aware of the status of the project. Moreover working in an inter-disciplinary team allows individuals to develop certain new skills as they are dealing with many different types of projects, working with and learning from many other participants with a diversity of skill sets. The matrix structure also increases the involvement of individuals in the project as the manager does not have all the required skills and he relies totally on the expertise of the staff. The disadvantages include the confusion in the staff about the change of command but this is nullified when the teams break at the end of the project and are reformed with new combinations for new projects. Another disadvantage is the conflict between team managers when they are acquiring staff. This type of structure is more demanding but at the same time it is more efficient and productive as demonstrated by the success H & M consulting has achieved during the last few years. Teams and Teamworking A team is defined as a group of people with a full set of complementary skills required to complete a task, job or project. Various characteristics of a team include the interdependence of team members on each other, sharing of authority and responsibility, accountability based on collective performance of team and the last and the most important is working towards a common goal and shared rewards. Working in a team is called teamwork; it means a sense of unity and enthusiasm for common interests and responsibilities developed in a group of people closely associated in a task, project or organization. When individuals work in teams, teamwork becomes a motivational power for the team members enabling it to move towards the targets smoothly by overcoming obstacles utilizing the collective skills of the team as a whole. The major advantages of teamwork include: Creation of synergy resulting in more organized collective effort which is better than the individual effort Devising an empowered way of working through removal of constraints with the help of multi-skilled and multidisciplinary effort Promotion of least hierarchy Development of flexibility and responsiveness which helps in adapting to the situations more effectively Promotion of companionship and recognition by the teammates resulting in a motivational working environment Achievement of customer satisfaction through depiction of multi-disciplinary skills and expertise Annihilation of organizational divides and conflicts through multi-disciplinary teams and projects Teamwork certainly increases the productivity of the individuals as well as the organization. Properly managed teamwork maximizes strengths, bringing out the best in each team member. Watsons Engine Components is a company with traditional organizational structure and mechanisms and has not adapted to the changing trends in market due to increase in competition as a result of globalization. The organizational structure being followed in Watsons results in formation of teams which consist of individuals from the same department and have the same type of skills; as a result most of the advantages of teamwork are not achieved in Watsons. Organizational divides are very evident with individuals considering themselves part of certain department and not the organization as a whole resulting in inter-department conflicts. Moreover since the teams consist of individuals with same skills, they cannot help their teammates when they encounter a problem which is not related to their field of expertise. Moreover there is no skill development in workers as they are not exposed to any new skills and do not interact with people from other departments to develop new skills. Prevailing hierarchy due to these kinds of teams, results in managerial conflicts. Customers are not willing to give orders to teams which are not multi-skilled resulting in an overall decrease in productivity of organization. The managers do not have control on the teams due to the strengthened trade union. On the contrary the team formation and the teamwork practices followed in H & M Consulting are good enough to acquire all the advantages of teamwork. With interdisciplinary teams the projects are carried out at high level of satisfaction of the customers. The problems are encountered very effectively as individuals with diverse skills are present in each and every team so the team can propose better solutions to problems related to various different disciplines. The teams are flexible and can adapt to the changing conditions and there is no chance of organizational conflict as each individual in the team helps the others to achieve collective goal resulting in a collective success for everyone. The employee development is the biggest advantage as the workers can learn various different skills from each other. This perfect teamwork has made it possible for H & M Consulting to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction as depicted by a gradual increase in their Customer Need Response ratings. Approach to Leadership and Management Leadership means working in an organization without a specific role or particular job. Leadership means driving the whole team in the right direction and getting the desired results from the workers by providing them a working environment in which they can utilize their abilities to the fullest for efficient and successful accomplishment of the assigned task. Leaders of a company set a direction, develop a vision for future and devise strategies to achieve that vision. The role of the leader is to influence creation of teams and to communicate by words and motivational examples keeping people move in the right direction. The leaders energize the employees to cross the obstacles by satisfying their basic needs, giving them due recognition in return to their efforts and developing a sense of achievement in them. A good leadership is always ready to bring about change in strategies according to the changing conditions. The leaders manage the affairs of organization by coping with complexity through planning and budgeting, establishing detailed timetables and schedules with set targets. The leaders move forward with a vision and make the staff to follow their vision of progress and make them adopt an enthusiastic approach for achieving goals. The leaders and managers in Watsons are not motivational enough for the staff and are not very much concerned about the progress of the company. The staff is not recognized for their efforts and they are not given due share in decision making resulting in increased turnover as the workers and employee move to other companies with better opportunities of growth and development. Another negative trend due to lack of motivation and developmental opportunities for the staff is the increased absenteeism and the mangers and the leaders in the organization are not willing to do anything about it. The managing director who is supposed to be a motivation for the staff is less concerned about the organization and more about his own retirement. The HR Manager has no strategies for overcoming the problems of absenteeism and increased turnover. The leaders are not willing to incorporate technology in the supply chain and want to stick with less productive conventional equipment. As a result most of the skilled staff and efficient managers are planning to leave the organization. The leaders in the H & M Consulting are strong role models for the staff with clearly identified mission statements and organizational values resulting in high motivation levels in employees. The workers and employees are recognized for their efforts and the staff is empowered to take decisions on their own resulting in a working environment which allows staff to progress and grow and that is why the staff owns the company because they are more than willing to stay in the company. The staff is well aware of the fact that their growth is directly related with the growth of the company. As a result of these good leadership practices H & M Consulting is able to expand their business to various different fields and regions throughout the world. Retention is not a problem and H & M Consulting hires the most efficient staff resulting in high levels of customer satisfaction. Due to the incentives and self-development opportunities provided by H & M Consulting the more skilled, innovative and enthusiastic staff from other organizations (like Ahmad Khan in Watsons) are willing to move in. Organizational Culture Organizational culture is defined as a set of understandings or meanings shared by a group of people that are largely present among members and are clearly relevant and distinctive to the particular group of people and these understandings and traditions based on the agreed upon values are transferred to the new members of the organization. Organizational culture is the working environment in any organization. An environment which is driven by conflicts and divides between different departments of a company is not a healthy environment and results in decreased productivity. The organizational culture is an explicit social product arising from social interactions within an organization. These interactions may be based on task sharing, interdepartmental communication etc. It is the duty of the mangers and leaders in an organization to develop a culture which encourages people to help each other while working to achieve common objective resulting in the growth of the company and the individuals. Stress reliving drills and employ development programs should be organized on regular basis. The managers should respect the beliefs and ethics of the staff members and should create an environment in which everyone would do so. Moreover the organizational culture should be developed to make the organization beneficial for the whole world by initiating corporate social responsibility programs and adopting sustainability and energy efficiency practices. Based on these criteria H & M Consulting can be considered as a company with perfectly positive organizational culture where a set of values and mission statement governs the execution of matters in the organization. Where demands and expectations of customers and rights of staff members are equally respected and most importantly being a multinational organization the staff members respect the beliefs of their comrades. Moreover the company is always concerned about sustainable and energy efficient practices and has a proper CSR program of its own. On the contrary there are no set values in Watsons and the employees are neither respected nor given their rights. The leadership is not willing to less energy efficient old equipments and CSR is not a concern. Conclusion After analyzing the organizational structure, organizational behavior and the leadership and management practices in both the companies H & M Consulting can be deemed as a role model for all companies as it has adopted the best possible practices in organization and management. While Watsons Engine Components need to amend most of its organizational practices in order to survive in the competitive global scenario. References James L. 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