Levels of Management in Organizations - Essay Example

Introduction This paper analyses the concept of management and how it exists in real life in organisations around the world. To this end, the paper will evaluate and explain the main levels of management as they exist in organisations. The paper will go on to examine management culture and what it means to an organisation like Tesco. From the deductions, the concept of effective planning and its interaction with strategic planning will be discussed. Levels of Management in Organisations There are three main levels of management in organisations: strategic, operational and tactical levels of management (Johnson, 2011). Each level of management has its role and contribution to the overall affairs and processes of running an organisation. This is because each unit and each section of an organisation has its function and this comes together in the organisational chart of an organisation which coordinates affairs. The strategic level of management is the topmost level of management and it is involved in the long-term planning and setting the tone for the running of the entire organisation (Hill & Jones, 2012). The strategic level of management is involved with defining the tone of business and affairs because it is made up of the topmost managers who derive their authority directly from the owners of the organisation (Cole, 2013). The operational level management of an organisation consists of the middle ranked managers and they take up management roles that are based on targets and standards set by the top level management (Freeman, 2010). They take up instructions from the top of the organisation and implement them. Usually, they also give instructions to the tactical level management. They are involved in medium term planning and functional units of an organisation (Freeman, 2010). Tactical level management are in charge of the actual implementation of ideas and instructions from the operational level on the ground (Barlow, 2013). They are seen as the frontline managers and they act as supervisors to the working core and the main workers. They are responsible for short-term decision making and they deal with the operational core of the organisation. In Tesco, the CEO and the Board members form the strategic management unit. Down the line, the regional functional managers and store managers who come below the top managers in the organisational chart form the operational core. The supervisors and teams on the retail floor are the tactical managers and they take decisions that are in charge of the day-to-day running of the organisation. Management Culture & Tesco Management culture refers to the set of relatively stable practices, observances and rituals in the management ranks of an organisation (Herzog & Leker, 2013). Therefore, management culture refers to the practices and other things that have become a part of the normal way managers express themselves in a given organisation. The legendary Geerte Hofstede defined culture as the software of the mind and the main motivating factor that causes people to behave according to a particular pattern due to their personality and other social interactions (Hofstede, 2009). Therefore, the culture of management in a given organisation refers to the main pattern of behaviour and main motivators that gets managers in a given organisation to behave in a given way and manner. “Tesco has a widespread recognition scheme which applies to all staff, including the directors and this causes them to seek an interpersonal relationship with their consumers” (Armstrong, 2013, p. 20). Tesco seeks to gets its managers to encourage the workers to seek an interpersonal relationship with consumers and also try to integrate elements and aspects of consumer requires and expectations in their operations and affairs. Tesco’s management culture also includes teamwork and trust (Armstrong, 2013). This is done through the creation and maintenance of strong interpersonal bonds that are nurtured through the operations and activities of managers. This involves building strong communication channels and building interpersonal relationships between the various components and the various players in the managerial positions of the company. The core aspect of the Tesco culture is published as follows: 1. Work as a team 2. Trust and respect each other 3. Listen, support and say thank you 4. Share knowledge and experience 5. ... so we can enjoy our work (Wilton, 2011, p. 149) This involves the main cultural processes and systems deduced through various surveys and processes. Tesco’s system is enhanced and nurtured through strong interpersonal bonds amongst managers and close contacts in order to build a culture and system that subsists and provides all the needs of their staff members. Static Strategic Planning V Dynamic/Emergent Planning Crafting a strategy is mainly done by the top management of an organisation. These managers are often given targets and tasks to fulfil by the owners of the organisation, who are mainly the shareholders. And the plans and the expectations of the firm are presented and the directors and top managers come together to work on the strategy and deal with it in order to formulate a strategy that spans throughout the organisation and sets the tone of affairs in the organisation over a long-term horizon. Strategy is a set of long-term plans, objectives and processes that guide all the units and sectors of an organisation (Johnson, 2011). A strategy is therefore meant to be definite and have some measureable components that the key stakeholders can adhere to. Strategy is transposed to the different units and ranks of an organisation through various processes and checks and balances like direct instructions and the balanced score card which provides the framework for the conduct of evaluations and analysis of the results of different components of an organisation and its progress. However, excessive rigidity of strategy tends to put an organisation in a negative situation (Mazzola & Kellermans, 2012). An example is cited of Kodak which created a strategy based on old film-based cameras in the 1990s. However, the digital camera became a popular means of capturing images and smaller competitors in the photography industry invested in research into digital cameras and they were successful whilst Kodak’s rigid strategy caused it to incur major losses and become a major loser in the industry. Hence, the concept of emergent strategy has gained popularity in the business community. An emergent strategy is meant to examine elements in the external environment in a proactive manner in order to adjust the deliberate or rigid strategy in order to attain the best and most optimal results for an organisation (Faulkner, 2012). An emergent strategy is conducted by a continuous review of the business environment in order to identify the opportunities and threats and then adjust the organisation in order to take the best opportunities. Tesco’s strategy involves the following core pointers: 1. Value for money: Giving consumers quality products 2. Customer service: Delivering a first class service 3. Customer loyalty: Focusing on the club card 4. Products: Highest quality products, largest range possible 5. Stores: Investing in stores and developing flexible store formats However, through a SWOT analysis and a critical evaluation of the markets, Tesco can develop an emergent strategy and process that can enable it to become a leader and continue to capture the markets and expand its processes in order to deal with the needs and expectations of people who use their services and procedures. STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES Increasing market share Insurance unit which is growing UK market leadership Online system growing Loyalty card system also growing significantly Growing brands and processes Tesco financial services also enhanced Over-reliance on the UK markets Serial acquisition creating legal problems High debt situation and costs of operations OPPORTUNITIES THREATS Enter non-food retail markets Enter the health and beauty markets Increase international growth UK markets choked and price war could be started Overseas expansion could fail if supervision is poor Competitors like Walmart and ASDA From the SWOT analysis above, it appears that there is a variance or a gap between the ideal standards and expectations of Tesco’s strategy and the realities on the grounds. It appears that the portfolio of Tesco is limited and the focus is on the UK markets only. Most of the elements of the Tesco strategy is UK based and there is limited plans to look at foreign markets. This means Tesco is running a major risk and could collapse if the UK market faces major economic challenges. Also, the focus on the food retail and the financial sector creates a major risk for Tesco. This is because the company has major opportunities in the non-food retail markets but it is not taking them up. Due to this, they are likely to miss out and are shifting towards a choked and matured retail market. Investments in stores are exposing them to risks and issues related to poison pills and malicious sales of over-valued assets. There is therefore the need for the management of Tesco to analyse and evaluate the markets and come up with a solution. This involves critically evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in order to take up serious strategic planning. This will identify the variances in the strategy that exists for Tesco now and lead to some kind of adjustment to put the company back on track to become a competitive one that will yield the best and most optimal results. Bibliography Armstrong, M. (2013). A Handbook of Employee Rewards Management. London: Kogan Page. Barlow, J. (2013). Excel Models for Business and Operations Management. London: Wiley. Cole, A. (2013). Strategic Management. London: SAGE. Faulkner, D. (2012). Strategy: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. London: Taylor and Francis. Freeman, R. E. (2010). Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach. Cambridge, MA: Yale University Press. Herzog, P., & Leker, J. (2013). Open and Closed Innovation. London: Springer. Hill, C., & Jones, G. (2012). Strategic Management. Mason, OH: Cengage. Hofstede, G. (2009). Software of the Mind. New York: Free Press. Johnson, K. S. (2011). Exploring Corporate Strategy. London: FT Press. Mazzola, P., & Kellermans, V. (2012). Handbook of Research on Strategy Process. Surrey: Edward Elgar. Wilton, N. (2011). An Introduction to Human Resource Management. London: SAGE. Read More