People & Organisational Management in the Built Environment - Essay Example

People and Organizational Management in Built Environment - The Relationship between Operations Management and Personal Management Competencies -Student’s Name Instructor’s Name Subject / Course Date Total Number of Words: 2,320 Table of Contents I. Introduction ………………………………………………………………… 3 Part I II. Definition and Concept of ‘People and Organizational Management .. 3 III. The Most Important People and Organizational Management Theoretical Concept ………………………………………. 5 IV. Importance of People and Organizational Management in Built Environment Management …………………………………………. 7 V. Recommended Strategic Ways wherein the Application of Management Theories will Enable Us to Meet the Key Challenges of the 21st Century ……………………………………… 9 Part II VI. A Self-reflection on the Student’s Management Competencies ……… 10 VII. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………….. 12 References ……………………………………………………………………… 13 -15 Introduction The skills acquired by a manager matter a lot when managing people within a built environment. Modern managers are expected to be competent in performing their technical responsibilities as well as in handling the subordinates. Considering the tight competition in the workplace, the need for managers to constantly update their management skills is strongly advised. In relation to people and organizational management, the first part of the study will provide the definition and concept of ‘people and organizational management’ followed by discussing the most important people and organizational management theoretical concept. Right after defining the concept, a literature review will be conducted in determining the importance of the principles behind people and organizational management towards the student’s profession as a manager in a built environment. Eventually, some recommended strategic ways in which management theories could enable us to meet the key challenges of the 21st century will be identified and discussed. For the second part of the study, the student will conduct a self-reflection with regards to the student’s own management competencies as a manager in a built environment. Definition and Concept of ‘People and Organizational Management’ People and organizational management are two of the most important strategies that contribute to the success of an organization. The concept of people management and organizational management are interrelated in the sense that both concepts tackles the improvement of human resources such as the need to train and motivate employees, effective decision-making and communication which are all necessary in keeping the operations and overall financial performance of built environment successful. (McNamara, 2008; Thomas, 1997: p. 16) Despite the similarities between the two theories, there is still a thin line that segregates one from the other. Basically, people management also known as the human resource management (HRM) is focused more on the managers’ responsibility to recruit, manage, and provide the necessary support to encourage employees to actively participate in making the organizational goal attainable. (McPheat, 2008) On the other hand, organizational management is about: (1) systematic and strategic planning of the organization goals and objectives among others; (2) organizing business and community events as well as selection of people based on their acquired skills prior to delegating their role and responsibilities within the organization; (3) leading the people which includes problem solving, decision-making, and motivating employees; and (4) coordinating or controlling the organization by actively monitoring the overall organizational activities through financial management, operations management, organizational performance, and feedback evaluation method. (McNamara, 2008; Thomas, 1997: p. 15) People management is commonly used as a guide to managers with regards to the proper way of controlling the attitude and performance of employees which can be done by managing them with respect, giving them sufficient trainings they need based on their collective tasks as well as motivating and inspiring them to pursue a higher goal or performance within the organization. It also includes the package compensation used when hiring new employees including the health and safety of the employees within the workplace. (McPheat, 2008) According to Thomas (1997: p. 11), managers should listen to each employee’s major concerns and/or proposed ideas. Through an open communication, there is a higher chance for the managers to minimize the occurance of an organizational conflict. (Wilson & Waltman, 1998) Organizational management is applied when managers are attempting to solve organizational conflicts which may arise from the implementation of organizational change or by simple miscommunication among the stakeholders of a built environment. (Woolthuis, Hillebrand, & Nooteboom, 2005; Gollan & Davis, 1999) The Most Important People and Organizational Management Theoretical Concept Although management concepts such as technical expertise, interpersonal skills, strategic planning, negotiation skills, and time management among others are all important to the success of an organization (Thomas, 1997: p. 11); it can be argued that the most important people and organizational management theories is the leadership skill of the manager because all leaders can hold power within a group but not all who are in power are great leaders (Burns, 1978: p. 426). Basically, the ability of the manager to effectively handle people and their individual competencies within the workplace positively affects the overall performance of the organization. (Thomas, 1997: p. 10) In general, management is very much different from leadership. Management is referring to a group of employees who has the authority to make decisions on how to manage an organization (Investor Words, 2008) whereas leadership is about the managers’ ability to influence, persuade, motivate, and provide a direction to other people in order to accomplish the mission that was implemented on behalf of built environment. Aside from serving as a driving force towards organizational change (Martin, 1998), effective leadership skills can make a big difference within the daily operations of a build environment since it enables the managers to avoid mismanagement and unnecessary operational errors due to miscommunication and lack of a structured operational system. (Minssen, 2006) For this reason, the savings that will be derived from establishing good leadership skills will eventually result to the increase in annual revenue generated by a build environment. Either the application of the transformational leadership style and/or authentic leadership style could be both beneficial to the business organization. Managers who chose to adopt the transformational leadership style are usually charismatic by nature and have the ability to inspire, motivate, intellectually stimulate employees, and consider the individual concerns of the employees. (Bass, Avolio, & Atwater, 1996; Bass & Avolio, 1993; Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978: p. 4) On the other hand, authentic leaders commonly use a positive leadership style based on genuine, trustworthy, and reliablity aside from the fact that these leaders believe in the capabilities of their subordinates. (Shirley, 2006; Luthans & Avolio, 2003) In line with this matter, George (2004) states that leaders who practice authentic leadership style must be able to understand one’s purpose, practice solid values, able to lead with heart, establish connected relationship with other people, and demonstrate self-discipline. In general, the ability of managers to effectively use either or the combination of the two leadership styles could contribute to the increase the morale of both the leaders and his/her subordinates. (Burns, 1978: p. 4, 20) Even if the manager has the best operations management skill, his/her inability to manage its people will become a serious bottleneck which could hinder the success of a built environment. Basically, managers’ ability to create a peaceful working environment through the proper use of leadership styles will make managers easily enhances the daily operations of a build environment. Importance of People and Organizational Management in Built Environment Management People management is considered as the key to the success of a business. Aiming to cope with the challenges that occur in a built environment, managers with good leadership skill are expected to easily encourage and motivate each member of the team to voluntarily participate and interact with one another as the group performs their individual and group tasks. (Thomas & Adair, 2004: p. 8) There are several consequences associated with too much focus on organisation’s policies and management practices. In line with this matter, Simpson (2008) states that failure of the managers to acknowledge the importance of people management could limit the productivity improvements within an organization. Since most employees today are very much educated in terms of having a clear career path and the modern working conditions, the traditional way of handling people has become less effective in motivating employees to bring out their best performance. Organizational management such as the managers’ ability to develop a strategic planning, proper selection of people in accordance to their individual skills before assigning them a specific task and responsibility in built environment including sufficient knowledge on financial management, operations management, the application of an organizational performance and feedback evaluation method are equally important to the success of built environment. (McNamara, 2008; Thomas, 1997: p. 15) In the absence of organizational management skill, the manager will not be able to accurately gauge and evaluate the organizational performance of built environment. For this reason, the manager will not be able to provide an effective strategic solution that will address a specific organizational problem. For example: Despite the fact that the nature of production, consumption, and management of a built environment is very much unique as compared to a typical business organization (Kerr, 1998), the present and future financial risk assessment can still be applied in built environment to allow the manager to have a better idea with regards to its credit risks and overall performance which will enable him/her to develop a effective risk control necessary as the built environment maintains an optimal allocation of its available resources. (Alexander, 2005) Aiming to incorporate sustainability in a built environment, operations management such as strategic planning as well as organizing, motivating, and influencing the team members to work towards one goal is necessary upon the installation of computer-based interactive guidance system which will be developed based on the built environment’s action plan, organizational policies, programmes including its existing and future projects. (Jones & Patterson, 2007) Although people management and operations management were considered as a two separate study, the study that was conducted by Boudreau, Hopp, McClain, & Thomas (2003) strongly suggest the need for the operations manager and the human resource manager to constantly communicate with regards to the proper selection of people in accordance to their individual skills prior to assigning employees with a specific task and responsibility in built environment rather than having the human resource manager focus only on the computation of payroll. In other words, the combination of people and organizational management plays a crucial role in the success of a built environment. Recommended Strategic Ways wherein the Application of Management Theories will enable us to meet the Key Challenges of the 21st Century Because of the challenges are expected to be present during the 21st century, continuous innovation with regards to the existing people and operations management is strongly advice in order to keep its customers satisfied with its services. (Thomas, 1997: p. 18) Schwandt (1997: p. 343) defines organizational learning as “a system of actions, actors, symbols and processes that enables an organization to transform information into valued knowledge which in turn increases its long-run adaptive capacity.” According to McGill and Slocum (1993: p. 72), organizational learning is “the process whereby organizations becomes aware of the qualities, patterns, and consequences of their own experiences, and develop models to understand these experiences.” As a built environment continuously expands its capacity to create its future, organizational learning occurs. (Senge, 1990; p. 14) In general, learning may take place under two conditions: mistake or failure and achievements. (Argyris, 1999; p.67) Because of the fast-paced environment, there is a need for managers to shift from the usual limited role and responsibilties an employee have within a built environment into enabling employees to become self-directed learners. (Ellinger, 2004) Doing so will enable the mangers to minimize and reduce the knowing-doing gap which can be present in a built environment. (Colbert, Reynes, & Brown, 2005) A Self-reflection on the Student’s Management Competencies I have been a manager in one of the built environment which is based in London. I believe that having a strong leadership skill has a lot to do with retaining the best talents within the built environment. Since mismanagement, operational errors, and failure to retain competitive employees within the organization contributes a lot towards the organization’s unnecessary operational cost, I have decided to improve my leadership skills during the past few years. I have noticed that a lot of philosophers have tried developing a lot of leadership theory which aims to enable organizations to have a concrete knowledge with regards to the different types of leadership strategy including the ones that were based on a trial-and-error. When determining the best and most effective leadership style, managers should not use trial-and-error basis since this type of strategy could only worsen the situation within an organization. Upon going through a self-reflection, my personal experiences as a manager made me able to develop a personally construct a leadership theory. Table I – My Personal Leadership Theory Basically, a competent leader who holds a power within an organization should have the qualities of leadership competencies such as: (1) wisdom to develop an organizational vision; (2) good communication skill; (3) knowing one’s skills and effectively employing it within the organization; (4) ability to empower and motivate employees; (5) able to establish trust among the employees by being reliable and constantly competitive manager; and (6) creative and resourceful. Managers should be aware of the importance of being a reliable and competitive manager since this minor aspect will allow managers to easily win the trust of his/her employees. Having wisdom to develop useful organizational vision allows the manager to keep its employees align with the organizational goal. Managers should also acquire good communication skill combined with creativeness and resourcefulness since these characteristics will enable the manager to prevent and effectively resolve organizational conflicts. Being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the employees, managers could delegate tasks that can be performed best by its workers. Managers should also regularly motivate and empower its employees to become self-directed. This strategy can be beneficial on the part of the organization since workers could work with less supervision. Conclusion People management alone is not enough in enabling built environment achieve its organizational goals. For the success of a built environment, managers should be able to effectively integrate the important functions of people and organizational management. *** End *** References: Alexander, C. (2005). The Present and Future of Financial Risk Management. Journal of Financial Econometrics , 3(1):3 - 25. Argyris, C. (1976). 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