The Dominant Method of Management Control - Assignment Example

Question – Has organizational culture now replaced organizational structure as the dominant method of management control in organizations? In your answer, give examples of both sorts of controls from an organization with which you are familiar The changing times have seen that the business world has evolved and so have the different methodologies and the ways and means through which it is carried day in day out. (Want, 1990) One needs to realize the fact that business is a consistently changing world and in this world only the people who are ready to change are successful. (Odaka, 1999) Thus to put it in the related context, change is the only constant in the world and in the business scheme of things, changing to suit the will and desire of the customers and/or the stakeholders as well as doing one last bit to bring in more revenues and profits for the company just plays the right trick for the business to succeed both in the short term as well as in the long run. (Berkowitz, 2003) Businesses which stagnate over a period of time and do not change because of one pressure or the other usually die out quickly. (Ginzberg, 1957) The ones that have existed thus far have relied a great deal on the phenomenon attached with change and consistent upgrading of the needs as put forward by the business and its norms. (Clegg, Rhodes & Pitsis, 2004) Seeking to introduce something on the lines of the customer’s wants and needs is a difficult proposition for the organization since it has to change its values and cultural basis but then again is an interesting offering which more or less suggests the ‘changing’ regime of the organization and to the levels the organization can bend itself for the sake of the valued customer. (Hatch & Cunliff, 2005) The changing market structure might call for changing strategies and lines of action that would all target the people for whom the product is actually designed as well as the competitors with whom the clutter is being broken in the environs of the marketplace. (Massey, 2001) Thus competition brings in more and more quality at the end of the company with regards to its products as well as more sales in the form of its varied and changed stance on focusing towards the customers rather than the product itself. (Covin, 1999) Apart from that, emphasis on need must be the order of the day rather than bringing out more and more varied stock key units just for the sake of it. The different products should satisfy each and every user rather than satisfy the people sitting in the innovation labs and those who invent just to take the company one step further. This trap should thus be avoided under all circumstances. (Gilbert, 1996) Thus profits could come out in the middle when a company is the sole and dominant player in the whole market structure. However by all accounts, organization’s cultural basis is something that should develop and generate interest on the part of the customers since these are the recipients. (Deeks, 1993) The big picture must be drawn up so that the predicaments in the line of the delivering value for the customers is paved up and hence there are not any problems that arise in the wake of drafting the said values and cultural tenets. (Wilson, 2004) Organizational behavior is thus the root for all these changes that need to be brought in with the passage of time and requirements that are jotted down by the customers themselves. (Cyert & March, 1963) Organizational success is possible when there are dedicated efforts made in the field of marketing. This is done so as to trigger the sales of the organization and also to make people (the target audience and the potential one) aware of the products/services offered by the organization. (Brown, 1996) Marketing can bring about positive word of mouth and appreciation from the people who hold importance for the organization. What this does is to make sure that the product goes down well with the target market and that it needs to maintain the very same image and rapport with these people. However this is one Herculean task and needs to be achieved on the part of the company so that its marketing activities outnumber the sales figures of its competitors and not only that but also claim positive vibes within the relevant industry and business circles. (Bauer, 1998) In the short run as well as in the long term, this could hold the key for the business’s ultimate success, be it in the form of triggering sales or bringing in more and more secondary audiences towards the primary cadre of the target market. Marketing thus becomes the cornerstone for any business to remain as such and without the marketing and communications activities, one can surely find that there will be problems at the top, in the middle (level of management) and almost at all the different quarters where the business gets in touch with the customers as well as the potential ones. (Crampton, 1998) Marketing activities need to be geared in a manner which will make the customers feel at ease with what they want to purchase from the organization and what they will and will not get at the end of the day after they undertake that vital purchase. (Varey, 2001) The market dynamics suggest that the competitive advantage can only be achieved when the customer is given what he or she wants. The customer expects value for money and thus the best possible product at the most effective rate, thus it would be correct to understand his point of view and then go about changing the product offerings, prices and the value thus provided. Marketing concept has taken its basis from the selling concept which is simply producing a product and then selling it for a nominal return. (Wells, 1998) However marketing looks at defying the odds and aims at conquering the mind, heart and soul of the customers. The terms like share of heart and share of mind come into the equation and not to forget the share of trial which looks at the customer trying a product for the first time in order to seek purchase back and forth. Share of heart means that when a customer is asked about naming a certain brand out of the selected list of brands in the related category, the first one or two brand names that he comes up with are pretty close to his heart. Similar meaning lies with respect to the mind when we speak of the share of mind. Share of trial is the moment when he actually uses that product and thus it comes under his play and eventual judgment whether or not the product lived up to his or her expectations. Marketing aims to show the customers what they need and then telling them what is best for them. It is not only there to solve their problem. Rather its usage is much more varied. It pinpoints the exact places where the product might be justifiably used, executed or tried for. Marketing is thus a battle which is going on in the minds of the consumer and the seller rather than something else. It needs to be understood in the proper scheme of things. The problems in the line of customer focus and delivering of value for the same is one of a difficult one, if seen in the proper contexts. The customers need to be apprised of the potential problems that might arise in a business and thus hamper the whole process of providing value and that too in the quickest manner possible on the part of the organization. There should be a one to one interaction between the customer and the marketing team present within the helm of an organization. (Heath, 1994) The gap must be removed which exists between the organization courtesy its different marketing and management strategies and the customer itself. There must be interaction at all levels possible to have the vital purchase and more than the same, the repeat purchases courtesy the customer. The organization needs to spell out its ways and means through which it will get in touch with the customers since they are the actual recipients of its different products and/or services. The work basis is thus deemed as one of significance in the whole context of organization control and planning. (Streatfield, 2001) The cultural change aspect needs to be embedded in a clear and concise manner within the realms of an organization so as to extract the best possible results, both in the short term as well as in the long run. Organization structure impacts the manner in which work is basically carried out. (Linney, 2000) More than anything else it adheres to the different purposes of the discrete services and the related achievements with the passage of time. This brings to light the notion of discussing the structural basis of the organizations themselves. (Leathers, 2001) For starters, these organizations might not be that easy to understand at the very beginning. These can encompass a variety of different aspects, features and traditional mindsets which make up their structures. To start with, we see that an organization can either be formally aligned in its ways and means of doing things and different processes or the same might just be in a way informal in quite a few of its activities and tasks. The manner in which it runs across this paradigm is something that needs to be studied in depth before we reach further consensus on their purposes and the kind of achievements that they have had. The communication within an organization can flow in one of three ways or in all the three directions. This means that these three directions pave the way for the ease of communication and there are as such no barriers to arise from the whole equation. Pro-activity remains the key for understanding the customer focus and attention that is being paid on the part of the customer towards the organization itself and the organization must make sure that it documents it. In the present times, organizations are doing their utmost in order to know more and more about their valued customers and stakeholders. For this, they have devised certain strategies which are in line with the values that their business has set for itself. These values are thus deeply intrinsic within the mission and vision statements of the company. In order to gain further knowledge about the customers, research is being given proper emphasis which would eventually discern the exact basis for the customers to come and make that vital purchase. It is a fact that the business world of present times can have a lot of improvement within their ranks if they adopt the policy of working towards the establishment of a performance management system. (Bassett, 1993) This would guarantee them a lot of success as their employees and workers would dedicate their whole hearted efforts towards the well being of the company as well as towards their own individual capacities. (Green, 1999) The usage of sound planning on the part of the managers is very imperative as it ensures that the same is not only important to the whole well being and the actual basis of the business but also the manner in which it invites the short term gains and incentives that come along all this while. (Birley, 2001) Managing change within an organization is one of the most significant aspects that come under its sound functioning regime. Only the companies which are able to come to terms with the new norms and practices are the ones that succeed not only in the short term but also in the longer scheme of things. (Logue, 2001) This means that the company has to devise certain ways and means through which it can manage change, measure it and effectively counter the problems that come in its way all this while. The learning process, meanwhile on the part of the organization is immense since it finds out the exact mechanisms and procedures through which change is going to affect the employees’ and stakeholders’ relationship with the company’s central essence, which is the top management, making all the decisions that would eventually benefit the company in the long run. Within the organizational contexts, the firm needs to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about certain efforts which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. Similarly, it needs to make sure that its staff members and employees are amongst the best in the industry and that they can relate with the norms and routines of the top corporations working hand in hand with each other but competing on the business level. Therefore to understand more about the cultural basis of the organization, we need to rely on the aspects related with the customer itself. Since the customer is the one for which the business works and thus the organization remains in business, the organization must make giant strides day in day out to let the customer know how valued and prized he is. The organization’s culture must make sure the same are the inherent and intrinsic core elements of the organization nonetheless. Organization’s culture should be such in the first place so convenient for the customer that there are not any changes to be made further ahead in the business operations of the organization. (House, 2004) The homework must be done in the starting to ensure that there are not any hiccups, say five years down the lane as there develop predicaments in the wake of changing global infrastructure and management styles so to speak. (Mills, 2002) Thus, long term planning has to be drawn in the light of the objectives that the company has set for itself and this does not mean that the revenues and profits alone are the points that need discussion rather the emphasis is on understanding the mission and vision statements of the company and the manner in which the two align with the goals that it has to meet over a period of time and then only weigh it with the benefits that are reached courtesy the long term incentives and the short term gains. Thus it is a fact that contingency planning is the buzzword which is making the business circles’ rounds in the current times. These provide a stop gap solution to the needs which are drawn up by the companies and then the answer is found out so as to cope up with the very same. (Lazer, 1971) Different scenarios and short term plans thus provide for a lot of cushion as far as vital tactical planning on the part of the said company is concerned and this indeed forms up as an important ingredient of the different processes that are running within the company. It might also be possible that the different departments present within a company have their own respective agendas that they have to meet and thus the long term planning can take a back seat in this equation. The administrative, decisional, interpersonal and other skills present within the repertoire of the management of the company have to understand that the long term planning has to make way for the tactical moves that are introduced within the company every now and then and which is for the betterment of all concerned, more than anything else, for the company and its stability in the long run itself. (Fonseca, 2002) Sound organizational control and structural foundation paves the way for an organization to be run in a professional manner. Competitiveness has to remain the key for the organization and the top management at the helm of affairs cannot deny the very same fact. (Gellerman, 1968) An organization to function in vacuum merely dependent on its revenues over a period of time is just not the order of the day anymore. Organizational structure should mingle itself with the policies that are coming in every now and then in the business world and try to play its part in accordance with the very same. The usefulness of its resources can only be harnessed when there is a decent enough endeavor to understand the dynamics of the market, the overall industry and more than anything else, the stakeholders who have invested huge sums of money within the realms of the organization and last but not the least the customers themselves for which the company strives to run a business in the first place and without whom the organization will not even be what it is in current state. With attention paid on getting things done in the textbook manner, the organizational gurus must ensure that learning is being used upon with case studies and recent examples to document their efforts. Also performance management systems are very significant to the actual basis under which an organization conducts itself. (Taylor, 1999) Thus the business is pretty much dependent on the way in which the organization’s different operating techniques are employed and the attempts must be in line with getting these operational tactics and strategies right every time there is a crisis or even when one is missing. Being proactive remains the key in such a changing global scenario within the organizational realms. (Weiner, 1980) All said and done, specific organizations must ensure that their workings are based on ethical and moral principles rather than minting money from left, right and center. It is the social responsibility aspect that makes an organization winner or otherwise at the end of the day. The problems at the customer end can be easily done away with if there are adequate steps taken at the organization’s level and when the organization understands its commitment which it has promised with the customers, the business that it is running and to its own organizational self. 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