Principle of Management - Essay Example

Principle of Management ‘s Number ‘s Table of Content I Introduction II The Case Study III TheProblem IV Analysis V Literature Review VI Point to Point Analysis VII Conclusion Introduction Organizations are run by Human beings, they are most important assets of any organization or company. Handling management of a company or organization is an art. The mishandling of this important asset could lead to disastrous situations. The person who wants to master this art should know and cater about Human psychology and behavior. The qualities of leadership are key for a successful manager. The successful manager should lead by inspiring people not by dictating his terms. . Thus HRM section of a company plays an important role in its development and survival of any company. The objectives of management are to use the HR in such a way that they could become most useful. It is the responsibility of HRM to chalk out such strategies that may be useful for employees as well as for organization. The main areas to focus should be; collective bargaining at enterprise level, flexibility in relation to various forms of employment as well as in relation to working time and job functions. Close look at heightened competition, rapid changes in products and processes and the increasing importance of skills, quality and productivity. These factors have also had an impact on HRM policies and practices. In managing change, the key elements include employee involvement in effecting change, greater customer orientation, and ensuring that the skills of employees are appropriate to the production of goods and the provision of services acceptable to the market. As such, managing people in a way so as to motivate them to be productive is one important objective of HRM. While in academic institutions HRM scholars emphasize the strategic role of HRM and define a new role for managing the employment relationship including: new organizational designs, flexible work arrangements, and the development of social partnerships. A theoretical development, that involves the central doctrine of HRM, is the integration of strategic management, organizational reforms. All these strategies lead a prospering business achievements and utter satisfaction of the stakeholders. In this essay we would analyze the main problems and issues being faced by Jack Grayson. He is the head of a branch of Engineering Company. He has been facing some problems in his company The Case Study Jack Grayson was the local general manager of the Bridge Building Company. Jack’s father had founded the company in the 1950s. He had been a civil engineer, and the company had specialized in that type of work, cashing in on the construction of new motorways in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Recently the company had branched out into general construction, and particularly houses building. Three months ago it opened a local office in Milton Keynes, an expanding new town about fifty miles north of London, in order to service the South Midlands area and to Increase the housebuilding segment of the company’s activities. Jack himself was twenty-nine, Being the boss’s son he had an advantage in his career progression In the company. He’d gone to public school, then university, where he studied geography. He wasn’t particularly numerate, but he had spent five years in head office, learning the ropes, and he certainly gave people, especially clients, the impression that he knew what he was talking about. So it was natural for him to head the Milton Keynes office, and he had big plans to make it a success. The Problem One day in a routine Friday meeting Jack felt that everything is going in wrong direction. His managers are working individually and there is no coordination in their work. Everybody was on a point-scoring spree. He was shocked to know that but he kept himself calm and did not loose temperament a took a spontaneous decision to adjourn the meeting. He gave stern warning to his managers in a light way. He made everything clear to them, he told them that everybody ‘s job s on the line. He gave them three days time to sort out matters. In the next meeting everything seemed going in right direction. Analysis Jack is the main character of the case study we have to analyze his style and management techniques employed by him. Jack ‘s style in Friday meeting was quite harsh in the beginning that changed the mood of every person. Everybody started defending himself and tried to throw responsibility to other colleagues. This was the main cause of the whole dilemma. The role of Jack in the beginning was of as stern boss in Friday meeting. He thought that being stern and inflexible could serve his purpose. But later on he realized that his sternness is not going to take him anywhere. Here made a positive change in his style of management. He showed flexibility and gave some time to his managers to re-think and re-assess the whole situation. This was the most positive aspect of Jack’s character in Friday meeting. Literature Review Here are some definitions of leadership and management. These definition put forward by known scholars would help in further analysis of Jack’s character. According to a scholar “Leadership is the process of influencing the activities of an organized group towards goal setting and goal achievement”. Stogdill, R. (1974) Leadership, membership and organization. Another scholar thinks “Leadership —The behaviour of an individual when s/he is directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal. Fiedler, F. (1967) A theory of leadership effectiveness. The characteristics of Management are defined as “working with people to plan, organize and control activities in order to accomplish agreed goals. Fayol, H. (1986) General and industrial management. It has become quite clear that there is great difference in the role of a manager and that of leader. A successful boss need to have both the qualities and styles. He/She should have flexibility to mould it according to the situation. Jack’s role in this case depicts both traits. His aggressive and style in the Friday meeting was the main cause of confusion among the staff members . As stated earlier all his managers went on defensive footing and tried to defend themselves by giving wrong arguments. But here a positive characteristic of the Jack came forward. He was able to respond to change in environment and he was also able to detect his own error. The same fact is described by a scholar. A good leader responds to changes in its internal and external environments by detecting and correcting errors in organizational theory-in-use and embedding the results of that inquiry in private images and shared maps of organization (Argyris and Schön, 1996); A good manager learns from mistakes, seeing learning not as a confession of ignorance, but as the only way to live (Handy, 1992) Now another positive character of the Jack came into view. After detecting his error he was able to revert the negative effects of his role. Then he provided a clear and decisive leadership to his arguing managers. As Kakabadse says that it is the quality of good leader, he is capable of providing clear and decisive leadership requires the projection of a vision that captures the imagination of others, but inevitably managers face conflict and adversity. Working in Organizations therefore discusses how power and politics can be molded to positive advantage. Point to Point Analysis Here are some glimpses of Jack ‘s dialogues showing positive and negative aspects of his character. 1. “ He turned to Dick Carroll. his main contracts manager, and whispered Incredulously. (Negative). This way of talking confused Dick and he got puzzled and could not give correct answer. 2. ‘tell me once again, Dick. Now you say that there’s no way we’re going to make the completion date for the local authority contract. You know there are penalties for over-running. You’ve told me repeatedly that everything was on schedule. What the hells gone wrong? (Aggressive) . Although aggression has some positive impact but sometimes it back fires. 3. Jack Grayson had instituted a weekly management meeting on Friday afternoons when he took over. He felt the only way to keep on top of things was to know what was going on, and the purpose of those meetings was to share information and report on problems. (Positive) It is a very good way of reviewing performance and sorting out conflicts and problems . 4. Dick Carroll looked defiantly at Jack Grayson and replied. ( It is the result of aggressive attitude of Jack that his manager had to get defiant. 5. Jack felt himself going red. (Negative aggression but timely controlled by detecting his error.) 6. ‘That’s enough.’ Jack Grayson glared aggressively round the table. ‘We’re not getting anywhere here. This Isn’t a management team, a group working together, it’s a bunch of crazies out on a points-scoring spree. I’m closing this meeting to let things simmer down, but I want you all back here at ten o’clock on Monday morning.” (The most positive remarks by Jack. By adjourning meeting he stopped further deterioration and also gave timely warning to his managers that they should sort out their differences immediately. If there are any errors they should be corrected. 7. ‘OK. We’ll just have to make do without him. I’ve been looking at the books over the weekend anyway, just to really know how things are. Now what can we do to get back to schedule with these local authority houses at Newtown? That’s our main priority. Then, more important, we’ve got to learn to work as a team, not as eight people pulling in different directions do. (Very positive) Here Jack looks completely different from the man he was on Friday. Now he is acting as a true leader. He is ready to ignore the errors, he is providing inspiration, he has given his vision and stated clearly his priorities 8. I spoke to Dad yesterday, and I’m under pressure to make things happen here. He’s not prepared to back us much longer and says we’ll pull out of Milton Keynes If it doesn’t work. So, as I said on Friday, your jobs are on the line, as well as mine. Let’s get down to business’ (Controlled aggression) Here he is issuing a serious warning but not separating himself from his colleagues. He uses same warning for himself although he is son of the owner of the company. 9. The atmosphere in the meeting was different from Friday. People actually seemed to want to help each other. Jack Grayson sat back and listened to Ben Gibson. (Boss is relaxed everybody is relaxed) It shows how important is the behavior of boss is for a team. He should not be short tempered. He should face big problems smiling. 10. ‘OK, folks,’ said Jack Grayson. ‘Things seem a little brighter today than they did on Friday. Mike, let me have a look at those revised schedules and we’ll see if there are any other short cuts we can take. Angela, keep me posted about how you get on with the QS. And I think we’ve got a lot to do, so let’s get on and do it. If we can work together and for each other the way we’ve done today we’ll make a damn good team.’ (Remarks of a successful manager who dragged his team on right path and started the journey in right direction) Conclusion This was very interesting case to study. It provided the opportunity to analyze the character of a senior manager (owner). Jack was dragged into a tricky situation by his own faulty aggressive attitude. But Jack proved that he is intelligent enough to understand his errors and correct them timely. He done so and provided his team an opportunity to sort out their differences and errors. He gave ample time with a blend of warning so that every one gets super active and do the job. In the he proved successful and avoided an eminent threat to very existence of the branch of his company. References Fisher, C. M. (1998). Resource Allocation in the Public Sector: Values, Priorities, and Markets in the Management of Public Services. New York: Routledge. Huczynski, A. (2004). Influencing within Organizations. New York: Routledge. Hunt, J. G., Sekaran, U., & Schriesheim, C. A. (Eds.). (1982). Leadership: Beyond Establishment Views. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press. Kakabadse, Ludlow, Vinnicombe, (1988), working in Organisations, Penguin Levy, A., & Merry, U. (1986). Organizational Transformation: Approaches, Strategies, Theories. New York: Praeger Publishers. Mailick, S., & Stumpf, S. A. (1998). Learning Theory in the Practice of Management Development: Evolution and Applications. Westport, CT: Quorum Books. Mcmillan, E. (2004). Complexity, Organizations and Change. New York: Routledge. Read More