Contemporary Management Practices - Example

The extent to which contemporary management practices are more about gaining the commitment of the workforce rather than controlling workers Introduction The definition of organizational commitment has contributed in psychology literatures and human resource management. Developing loyal and committed workforce depends upon the performance of the firm by influencing the supply of effort of the employees and increasing their output. It can also be defined as the process by which the employees become conscious of the different organizational goals and their contribution towards the achievement of the organizational goal. Companies that are financially successful and have high reputation are generally considered to have committed employees. Therefore it has been observed that the employee’s loyalty and commitment play a vital role in the separation between the commitment and the efforts of the employees and the commitment and effort of the organization. In this essay the topic is gaining the commitment of the workers rather than controlling the workers. Here in this case study culture, power, motivation, leadership theory will be discussed in order to get a wide explanation of the topic. Since for gaining commitment of the workers all this theories play a major role and it is practiced and implemented by the organization. Discussion Organizational culture mainly reflects the beliefs values, norms that include in an organization as a whole. Organizational culture mainly deals with the concept that whether the employees prefer to work for the particular organization, understanding the organization culture that will extend help or assistance in training of the employees (Lotze, 2004). Figure 1: Components of culture The components of culture mainly include the strategy, values, structure/ technology, system / policies and culture which influences the market or the customers and the environment. Values mainly represent the power together with the shared values in the organization. Structure or the technology mainly represents the improvement of the particular culture in the organization. Strategy defined as the tactic towards the attainment of the objectives of the organization. Culture is mainly influenced by the mechanism of human resources. Corporate or organizational culture deals with sharing of beliefs, policies and procedures through which the people in the organization respond (Mooij, 2013). Case Study of organizational culture: Jaguar which is considered as one of the largest manufacturer of car was involved in a program of cultural change for creating and finding out new ways of working in 21st century. Hosted defines organizational culture as the way in which people should behave with each other Figure 2: Hosted 5D model The five main forces that determine the organizational culture at the work place are: Power Distance: the power is to be equally distributed among the employees. The employees enjoy the benefit of hierarchy. Power distance mainly refers to as the difference or the variance in the work culture on the basis of the power delegated or assigned to them (Ray, 1986). Masculinity versus Felinity: The organizational culture also varies on the basis of male and female employees working in the organization. The organization dominated by male employees are more aggressive as compared to that of the female employees working in the organization whereas the organization where there are more female employees are caring and soft hearted. Individualism: The organizational culture also varies according to the individualism. Each individual in the organization comes with different ideas. The individual having a common set of interest come together and form an organizational culture. Whereas there is organization where individual do not share their view and prefer individualism (Lincoln and Kalleberg, 1990). Long term orientation: Long term orientation also affects the organizational culture. Some organization gives more importance on building long term relationship with their employees. In this type of organization the employees work hard to meet the expectation of the senior level management. Whereas there are some group of employees who are more focus on the position and the image. In this type of culture the employees generally work for a short term and the management does not take initiative to retain them. Uncertainty Avoidance Index: It refers to the organizational culture where the employees know the tactics of dealing with the unforeseen and unusual situations. It mainly signifies the tolerance level of the employees in the organization. Therefore the organization mainly tries or attempts to avoid such situations or circumstances (Harris, 1998). The strength of this theory is that it plays an important role in building inter personal relationship in the organization. The weakness of this theory is that it is not suitable for the areas where strong sub culture exists. Commitment of the employees in the organization The employees become committed to the organization for the job they perform because they enjoy doing the job or they have similarity in the goals of the organization. John Meyer and Natalie Allen have developed or introduced the three element model of commitment. This model mainly highlights on the fact that the commitment of the employees to and for the organization is a psychological state and it mainly comprises of the three important and main elements that defines how employees react and feel about the organization for which they are working (Brown, 1979). The three important elements or components of this model are: 1. Affection for the job which deals with affective commitment. 2. Fear of Loss which signifies the continuance in the commitment. 3. Sense of obligation for sustaining or staying. Affective commitment mainly deals with the emotional attachment of the employees in the organization. High level or degree of affective commitment signifies that the employees in the organization enjoy their relationship with the organization which indicates that the employees will stay in the organization (Klein, Becker and Meyer, 2012). Fear of Loss or the continuance commitment refers to as the indicator that if there is high level of commitment of the organization than the employees will stay in the organization for a longer period of time and if the employees leave the organization, it will be costly for the organization. Normative commitment or the sense of obligation for sustaining or staying refers to the situation in which employees feel that it will be a right decision in staying in the organization. These three components play a significant role as it directly affects work performance, retention of the employees in the organization. This model indicates that high level of affective, normative and continuance commitment will help in retaining the employees. Whereas a low level of continuance, affective and normative commitment indicates that the employees will leave the organization. Therefore it suggests that organizational commitment is necessary for the organization (Piepenburg, 2011). Figure 3: Three component model of commitment The strength of this theory is that it increases the commitment of the organization. The weakness of this theory is that the organization may miss utilized the continuance and normative approach. Control technique of the organization McGregor’s Theory X & Y Douglas McGregory formulated the theory of x and y defining the different aspects of the human behaviour in the organization. Theory X deals with the negative aspects and the Theory Y deals with the positive aspect. This theory is mainly based on assumptions. The assumptions of theory X is that maximum employees don’t like to work and so they try to find out the way in escaping from it. When the organization does not feel or does not like to work the employees should be punished or persuaded to work for achieving the goals set by the organization. This type of employees has prioritized the security of job and they are not so ambitious of reaching to the top. This type of employees usually dislike in taking more responsibilities related to their job in the organization. They are not adaptable and they do not prefer change in their work place. They need direction and way in which they have to proceed. This theory deals with those types of employees who are energetic and take the positive aspect of their work. Here the employees work hard both mentally as well as physically to achieve the organizational goal and they perform their work in a very well mannered and structured way. Here the employees are not forced to work and here the employees do not need external force to make them work. The employees work with their own desire they are self motivated, motivated and enthusiastic in achieving the organizational goals and objectives. The employees have the skills and capabilities in achieving the organizational goals of the organization (Aamodt, 2012). Therefore the theory X represents that the employees are pessimistic and they have a negative attitude towards work. Theory Y provides an optimistic scenario represents a positive attitude of the employees towards the work. Mc Gregory concludes and suggests that Theory Y is more valid and logical as compared to that of Theory X (Northouse, 2012). Figure 4: Theory X and Theory Y Many organizations prefer and implement theory Y as compared to that of theory X as it deals with creating an environment by the senior mangers which motivates the employees to work by taking more initiative. Theory Y motivates the employees and provides them the opportunity for delivering service for attainment of the organizational goal. Theory Y mainly deals with the decentralization of the authority. It maintains the balance between the aspirations and goals of the individual together with that of the organization (Lussier and Achua, 2009). Case Study: THEORY Y: when a contract is given to an artist, the artist will perform his/ her duty by applying his / her own skill and will deliver the art. THEORY X: A time clock to an employee because the senior level management believes that the employee will arrive late and will leave early from the organization (Iqbal, 2011). This advantage of this theory is that it increases productivity and skill of the employees. The disadvantage of this theory is that it is enforces rules and restrictions on the employees Motivational Theory In order to motivate the employees, control the employees and build commitment among the employees Maslow have developed a theory of hierarchy of needs to identify the fact that people will be motivated to work if their needs and desires are fulfilled. The five stages model of Maslow includes physiological, safety, love, esteem and self actualization (Hoffmann, 2007). Maslow with the help of its model explains that while achieving the basic needs, people not only fulfils there basic needs but also attains relatively successfully higher needs in the structure of a pyramid. The ultimate level of this model is the self fulfilment and actualization of the needs (Keller, 2009). Examples of the psychological needs is the cafeteria, security is wages and salary of the employees, belongingness is creating team spirit, self esteem is designing challenging jobs. Figure 5: Maslow Need Hierarchy model Physiological needs mainly deals with the basic needs of the individual. Safety needs mainly deals with the law, security, fear, freedom of the employees in the organization. Love and Belongingness needs of the employees in the organization mainly deal with the love, affection friendship received from the friends, romantic relationship and family. Esteem needs mainly deals with the status, achievement, self respect, independence and respect from others. Self actualization needs mainly deals with the realization of attaining personal growth, self fulfilment, and attaining potential and personal experiences (Beck, 2000). Power Power is defined as the capability or the ability to control and influence the behaviour of the people. Power can be explained on the basis of the following theories: Weber theory on power Weber defines power on the basis of class, status and party. Weber theory mainly highlights the following facts of human capital. Power, Communal, Domination and societal actions Power deals with the ability to realize own desire in social action against the will or desire of the others. It is the capability to have command on a particular sector. Domination refers to as the ability of exercising the power. Communal and societal action refers to as the shared course of action (Ogbonna and Harish, 2000). Class Weber defines class on the basis of three perspectives that is a specific component of casual nature, which depends on wealth and economic interest, which is represented and introduced in the commodity market. Weber theory not class mainly highlighted and focused on the managers rather than that of the owners and stock holders because the managers set the labour price (Hardy and Leiba-OSullivan, 1998). Status It mainly defines that the status of the people in a group is mainly determined by the common and familiar style and pattern of life and the other social restrictions. Party Class and status are focused on the basis of legal order. Political power is mainly based on the status and interest of the class. Marx Theory on power Marx explains the theory of power on the basis of society and capitalism. Through society Marx explains how society works and through capitalism Marx established a communist society. Karl Marx mainly focused on his theory the power and the force of production and its relation with the production, classes and its conflicts and also explained and structured the economic sub structure (Joseph, 2004). Luks Theory on power Luks defined the theory of power on the basis of the three methods that is the first face which deals with the issue method, the second face which deals with establishing and introducing the agenda and the third face signifies manipulating other views Foucault power Theory This theory mainly deals with shaping, leading, and understanding of the power. It signifies and defines power in the sense that power mainly constitutes the knowledge forms, truth and also scientific understandings. He explains that power acts and signifies the relation between different people, a strategically form of plan with the capacity in influencing others behaviour. He did not consider power negatively. He considered knowledge on the basis of power. Foucault in his theory explains that power generally touches each individuals their bodies and transforms itself into their actions, attitudes and also learning processes (McKinlay and Starkey, 1998). The advantage of the various power theories is that it focuses on providing freedom and liberty to the employees in the organization. The weakness of the theory is that it is aggressive in nature. Conclusion All the theories that are described in the case are equally important for gaining the commitment of the workforce rather than controlling it. But when it is analyzed on the basis of their advantage and disadvantage it is found that Mc Douglas theory of control technique of the organization plays an important role together with the three component model of commitment. Since the three components model motivates and helps in retaining the employees in the organization. And the Mc Douglas theory of y also plays an important role in assisting the employees to perform well in the organization and apply their own skill and initiative. The power theory is not applicable for all type of organizations because it mainly deals with the ability to influence others. The power theory is concerned about power, class, status, capitalism and socialism. The commitment of workers is more important than controlling the workers. Commitment comes from inside rather than forcing an employee to perform to attain the organizational goals of the organization. References Aamodt, M. (2012). Industrial / organizational psychology: An Applied Approach. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Beck, R. C. (2000). Motivation: Theories and principles, 4/e. Singapore: Pearson Education India. Brown, H. I. (1979). Perception, theory, and commitment: The new philosophy of science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Daft, R. (2006). Organization theory and design. USA. 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The relationship of staffing practices to organizational level measures of performance. Personal psychology. 46(1), 27-48. Read More