The Different Management Styles - Essay Example

"Power is the basic force managers use to change organisational realities by getting others to do what they want done" There are many managementstyles. The manager or a supervisor must use the power vested on him or herself to utilize the raw materials, LABOR and factory overhead in his mission to accomplish the goals or objectives assigned to his or her department. In general, the business organization is grouped according to the finance department, production department, sales department, accounting department and the like. This essay explains the different management styles of harnessing the power that an organization department has over the labor or human resources in the pursuit of its departmental and over-all organizational goals. Under the line and staff organizational concept, the subordinates are paid to follow the dictates of their superiors. This gives the supervisor or manager the power to hire or fire his subordinates. There are many management styles (Newstrum, J & Davis, K.,1997) in an organization. Penalties such as fines are imposed in the negative style of management. These negative style managers dominate their subordinates by putting emphasis on the imposition of penalties and fines for substandard performance such as being fired or suspended from their present's jobs without pay, reprimand and even, in rare occasions, insults in front of their fellow workers. This style of management is very proper for some employees but may not be recommended for other employee types. The employee turnover will be higher than other management styles because the employees. This domineering management style results to lower job satisfaction because the some employees will prefer to resign than to be insulted or reprimanded in front of their workers. This is the autocratic management style. On the opposite end, some managers use the positive style of management. The managers will give better education benefits and offer rewards and even promotions for excellent and above par performances. This is the custodial management style. A third management power style occurs when there is a mixture of both the negative and positive style of management. There are situations when the negative of reprimanding can be used and there is other situation, at work, when the positive style of giving rewards and bonuses will increase worker production outputs. Management's use of power to change organisational realities by getting others to do what they want done is further strengthened by the Protestant ethics during the Protestant Reformation that it is a MORAL obligation to work in order to have salvation. This ethic was one of the sparks that kindled the factory working procedures in the 18th century. Therefore, man felt that is a normal for a superior to order the workers to perform certain assigned tasks that will contribute to the accomplishment of over-all company goals and objectives Frederic W. Taylor (Waring, 1991) studied human behaviour ( Grandjean & Kroener, 1997) at work in his management science. He equates the organization as a cheap machine where the human workers, managers and supervisors are likened to its many parts or subdivisions. Each must coordinate and cooperate with each other for the smooth accomplishment of company goals. The human workers are treated just like cheap machine spare parts that can be replaced, transferred, mended and strengthened. Management has the power for the company to implement Frederic Taylor's work procedures such that each task can be broken down into its smallest unit and the best person to do a specific job should be selected so that there will more products manufactured in lesser time at a better quality standard for Frederic Taylor saw that the interaction of human characteristics, social environment, task and physical environment, capacity, speed, durability and cost contributes much to the speedy and quality accomplishment of company goals and objectives. Taylor's method has increased dramatically the quality and speed of company products. Management is using power because under the THEORY X assumption (Callaway, 1999), people do not like work and will try to avoid working if it is possible. Douglas McGregor founded this. The workers are thought of as having no ambitions and avoiding responsibilities. Therefore the reward or positive management style cannot be applied here. The negative management style is the better prerogative. The people under this assumption needs and wants to be forced to work and be reprimanded. This is the negative management style. Management is using power because under the THEORY Y assumption (Henderson, 1996), the workers here are not inherently lazy, and the workers will exercise self-direction and self-control in the pursuit of company goal accomplishments because these workers are committed to their work. Douglas McGregor espoused this. The people here have potential for promotions and the like because they the workers are presumed to be with imagination, ingenuity, and creativity. The management will use lesser force for the Theory Y assumption but must double their efforts by using force on the Theory X workers. The AUTOCRATIC model was the prevailing model during the industrial revolution. The managers use their power of position by telling the workers that they will be punished if they do not do their jobs in accordance with instructions. It is here that the manager uses his power to hire fire and perspire, its workers. Under method, the employees will tell their bosses about the employee's feelings of insecurity, shame for being insulted, frustrated they will forever have that aggrieve or angry look at their supervisors et. The CUSTODIAL model occurs when the managers used their power to change organizational realities by getting others to do what they want done by introducing workers' welfare. This will encourage workers to produce more products better and faster. The managers constantly retrain their workers, reduce overtime, encourage job transfers and relocations, avoid layoffs, early retirement and the like and even introduce regularization of employees. Under the PARTICIPATIVE model, the managers use power to change organisational realities by getting others to do what they want done by introducing decentralization and participatory tactics. This is done by consulting the workers on their opinions and suggestions that will help in the accomplishment of company goals. The advantage of this model is that there will lesser resistance to the company goals and objectives that have to be accomplished because the workers, they, agreed that they would perform their respective job descriptions in accordance with the approved benchmarks. Under the FREE-REIN model, the managers use power to change organizational realities by getting others to do what they want done by allowing the workers to make their own goals and benchmarks. The workers are then required to solve their own problems. This means that each department in the company can have their own goals and objectives. The supervisor does not contribute his or her own suggestions or commands. The danger here is that the goals and benchmarks of one department may be in conflict with the goals or objectives of another department in the company. Chaos will ensue. For example, the sales departments decide that it will sell one hundred units of Rolls Royce cars this month. The production department, on the contrary, has agreed that it will only produce sixty units of Rolls Royce for the same month. The two departments will now be in conflict with each other's objectives. This chaos has to be resolved for the sake of the entire organization. Under the THEORY Z model, the managers use power to change organizational realities by getting others to do what they want done by implementing the process of adapting the behavioural prescription of management to FIT the organization's cultural environment. William Ouchi made this popular. This new theory grew out of the situation where Japanese companies had opened its manufacturing plants in the United States. The cultural upbringing of these two business giants caused a rethinking on which culture, business style of management, etc to implement. The typical benefits that Theory Z gives its employees are long term employment, no specialized careers, individual responsibility, concern for the total person, Less formal control systems, Consensus decision making, Slower rates of promotion. The central theme was for the organization to create a workforce that is offered affiliation, independence, and control in exchange for high quality work products that is produced at a fast pace. A very good example is McDonalds. It has many branches all over the world. It hires its operations personnel from the foreign countries. The food and services there are curtailed to the level that is accepted to delicate taste buds and customs and traditions of each foreign country. This is what makes McDonalds very successful. CONCLUSION Based on the above data, Power is the basic force managers use to change organisational realities by getting others to do what they want done. There are many management styles used in the harnessing of this power. In the accomplishment of company goals, the subordinates are instructed by management on what jobs will be done, how they will be done and when they will be done. There is no ONE correct management style because one management style such as negative positive may be effective when applied to one group of subordinates but not as much effective when imposed on another employee behaviour type. Therefore it is management's role to determine which management power style or model or a combination of power management styles will be effectively implemented so that the workers and the department heads will can come up with high quality products and services at a fast pace. BIBLIOGRAPHY Newstrum, J & Davis, K., 1997. Organizational Behaviour -Human Behaviour at Work, London, McGrawHill, Waring, S., 1991, Taylorism Transformed: Scientific Management Theory since 1945, London, University of North Carolina Press Callaway, R., 1999, The Realities of Management: A View from the Trenches, London, Quorum Books Henderson, G., 1996, Human Relations Issues in Management, London, Quorum Books Grandjean E., & Kroemer, K., 1997, Fitting the Task to the Human: A Textbook of Occupational Ergonomics, London, Taylor & Francis Read More