Effectiveness Efficiency and Labor Welfare - Essay Example

RUNNING HEAD: Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Labor Welfare Student Name Student Number Unit Title/Number Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Labor Welfare Due Date Unit Coordinator Introduction The widespread claims that management’s pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness in most organizations have been at the expense of labor’s welfare are not valid. Although there are several researches and a volume of literature focusing on management pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness and their impact on labor welfare, little evidence exist on the argument that such pursuit is on the expense of labor welfare. Labor welfare includes anything that is done for the comfort and improvement of employees and is provided over and above the wages. According to Bowey (2005), welfare helps in keeping the morale and motivation of the employees high to retain the employees for longer duration. The welfare measures need not be in monetary terms only but in any kind/forms. Employee welfare includes monitoring of working conditions, creation of industrial harmony through infrastructure for health, industrial relations, and insurance against disease, accident, and unemployment for the workers and their families. Labor welfare entails all those activities of employer, which are directed towards providing the employees with certain facilities and services in addition to wages or salaries (Caldari, 2007). Therefore, with the importance of the knowledge that improved labor welfare leads to eventual realization of effectiveness and efficiency in production, management value activities that lead to improvement of the same since they are related and intertwined. That is to say, labor welfare that is satisfying leads to efficiency and effectiveness of individual employee because of improved motivation (Schwartz, 2007). In the end, individual output of every employee improves and thus improved collective productivity and efficient realization of set goals and objectives. This paper therefore seeks to argue against the statement that claims that management’s pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness in most organizations has been at the expense of labor’s welfare (Phipps, 2011). The paper will be structured in a manner that brings out the argument clearly to bring about the point. The sections are in parts of subheadings of the methods of pursuing efficiency and effectiveness, importance of labor welfare, methods of attaining labor welfare, and conclusion. Organizational Management and Labor Welfare Organizational management plays an important role in ensuring employee welfare within the organization. The management style employed by the organizational management’s need for effectiveness and efficiency is critical in determining the level of labor welfare. The measurement of labor welfare is possible using a number of indicators that include hourly wage, pension coverage, insurance, severance benefits, and average tenure (Ngai, 2009). Regression undertaken on a rich set of specifications indicates that organizations with a higher level of organizational management will not only have higher profitability but also provide better and improved labor welfare. Although managers in an organizational set up could have different attitudes toward labor welfare provisions, their pursuit for effectiveness and efficiency do not have a serious influence on the provisions of such welfare. Employees invest in their employment relationships, their human capital, as well as off-work related capital such as housing, spouse employment, schools, social relationships, etc. Once they make the investment, they may not be able to control the returns on these capitals, just like shareholders who invest physical capitals in an organization (Faleye, et al. 2006). Therefore, however much the management engages in their pursuit for effectiveness and efficiency within the organization, care is taken to ensure that labor welfare becomes a top priority for the management. Attaining Efficiency and Effectiveness Attaining efficiency and effectiveness in most organizations is the first priority of the management to attain profit maximization, effective management of labor, and effective goal realization. This implies that organizational management embarks of series of activities to improve their efficiency and effectiveness while at the same time upholding high standards of labor welfare. Such activities include planning, development, decision-making, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting, budgeting, and training (Bowey, 2005). Organizational management engages itself in such activities since it appreciates the fact that it is in concern with the optimum attainment of organizational goals and objectives with and through its labor. While seeking efficiency and effectiveness therefore through such array of activities, the management ensures maintenance of high standards of labor welfare and ethics since its characteristics include many strategies, wide spans of control, autonomy, and democracy (Waddell, et al. 2011). In brief, organizational management is judged with the responsibility of developing and communicating policies and objectives for the organization, establishing formal and informal organizational structures that include delegating authority and sharing responsibilities, setting priorities and reviewing terms and conditions, maintaining effective communication, selecting, motivating, and appraising staff, and being accountable to staff, the larger enterprise, and the general community (Ngai, 2009). In performing such tasks in an ethical manner, the organizational management finds itself motivating labor and thus the improvement of their welfare and thus effective organizational planning (Faleye, et al. 2006). As mentioned above, planning is one of the key management functions in the pursuit of effectiveness and efficiency in production. Planning generally involves early determination of activities that need immediate attention, how to accomplish them, who should perform such activities, how they should be accomplished, and the cost of doing it. Planning is a long-term process and is a major contributor to success and productivity. Additionally, planning puts an organization at a perspective of determining organizational goals, developing premises about environment, and assessing the appropriate methods of improving labor relations and welfare, and designing the future while at the same time anticipating problems. Decision-making is another crucial process for seeking efficiency and effectiveness in an organization. The process has a close relationship with managerial planning. It is important for organizations to make wise decisions depending on the varying situations and circumstances with clear consideration of alternatives and the consideration of possible consequences. Usually, the result of wise decision-making would be the choice of the best alternatives and thus the realization of the expected and beneficial outcomes. This will lead to eventual realization of effectiveness and efficiency (Caldari, 2007). Likewise, proper decision-making improves employee relations, supports proper communication, and thus improved motivation and labor welfare through wise decisions on rewards and compensation. Organizing role of the management is important for getting an activity done next. Organizing becomes very critical and important after implementation of strategic planning. The process is also quite vital in the sense that it helps the management establish important and formal relationships between people and organizational resources to reach predetermined goals and objectives. This in itself improves the welfare of labor while at the same time promoting efficiency and effectiveness. Having a successful organizing program will see improved relationship among resources and labor. Therefore, it cannot be argued that organizational management in pursuit of effectiveness and efficiency through its organizing role is on the expense of labor welfare. This is even evident with the fact that organizing will bring about a clear definition of roles and activities for each employee and thus elimination of confusion and role duplication while at the same time defining the acceptable chain of command. Furthermore, organizational management, more often, engage in staffing as one of their main roles. The function of staffing is the role of management is to seek efficiency and effectiveness through seeking to have the right people on the ‘bus’ to carry on with various activities. The success of every organizational manager lies in their ability to hire the right people for the right positions without discriminating the vacant position (Pfau & Cohen, 2003). The staffing process includes a number of activities ranging from human resource planning to recruitment. Recruitment is the crucial part of this process as managers will be interested to select candidates with the right skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, competence, and expertise in the job, and good relationship with others. Once the organization brings in the right people with the right skills, it will attain effectiveness and efficiency in terms of productivity, minimum supervision, and improved employee relationship. This will in turn improve labor welfare (Pagano and Volpin, 2005a). Furthermore, directing is another method used by organizational managers in their pursuit for efficiency and effectiveness. The concept of directing becomes a congruent part of management roles and thus an important part of seeking organizational efficiency and effectiveness. However, directing is more concerned to leading and leadership styles that are considered useful in bringing about the success of any organization. In this context, leadership implies the creation of a working environment where individuals can do their best work and feel a proprietary interest in producing an excellent product or service (Pfau & Cohen, 2003). With environment, the chances of improved labor welfare are high and thus achievement of organization’s efficiency and effectiveness. Finally, organizational management employs their role of coordinating in their pursuit for effectiveness and efficiency. Coordinating plays a major role in the entire efficiency of an organization. This is because the important stage in seeking efficiency includes the interrelation of the various parts of activities in the workplace. It involves coordinating the various job roles and responsibilities of various employees (Phipps, 2011). The two forms of coordinating employed include vertical reporting to supervisors and staff and horizontal reporting to colleagues and management. Having an organized coordination within the organization ensures effective and efficient cooperation among the various players of an organization. The essence behind the entire process of coordination is the principle of having planned procedure of reporting among individuals. The result will therefore be job satisfaction and good relationship among employees. This implies that coordination ensures the improvement of labor welfare and hence improved productivity and effectiveness in the entire organization. The Importance of Improved Labor Welfare The very logic and principle behind providing services for improving labor welfare through management is to create efficient, healthy, loyal, and satisfied labor force for the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. The purpose of improved labor welfare is to make their work life better and to raise their standard of living. To summarize the importance and need for improved labor welfare is firstly to provide better physical and mental health to workers and thus promotion of a healthy work environment (Kim, 2009). Secondly, another importance of good labor welfare is how it improves facilities like housing schemes, medical benefits, and education and recreation facilities for workers’ families. This helps in raising their standards of living while at the same time making workers to pay more attention towards work and thus increases their productivity. Thirdly, most organizations get stable labor force by providing welfare facilities. Workers take active interest in their jobs and work with a feeling of involvement and participation in the success of the organization. All these reasons define the need for organizational management to consider safeguarding labor welfare while on their pursuit for effectiveness and efficiency (Kim, 2009). It is for these very reasons that see such pursuit not affecting labor welfare. Conclusion This paper argued that the claims that management’s pursuit of efficiency and effectiveness in most organizations have been at the expense of labor’s welfare are not valid. The paper does so through analysis of the various methods employed by the organizational managers in their pursuit for effectiveness and efficiency and their possible effects on labor welfare. Among the discussed methods, include planning, decision-making, coordination, organizing, and staffing. The findings of the research indicate that most of the methods are indeed useful in promoting labor welfare. The paper further discussed the importance of labor welfare as part of the factors promoting organizational effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, in conclusion, labor welfare and organizational effectiveness and efficiency are intertwined and none can be argued to affect the other. Reference List Bowey, A 2005, ‘Motivation: the art of putting theory into practice’, European Business Forum, issue 20, Winter, pp 17-20. Caldari, K 2007, ‘Alfred Marshall’s critical analysis of scientific management’, The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, vol. 14,no. 1, pp 55-78. Faleye, O., Mehrotra, V., and Morck, R., 2006. “When Labor Has a Voice in Corporate Governance,” Journal of Finance and Quantitative Analysis, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 489-510. Kim, E 2009, Corporate Governance and Labor) Relations, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 45-54. Ngai, P 2005. Global Production, Company Codes of Conduct, and Labor Conditions in China: A Case Study of Two Factories, The China Journal, vol. 54, p. 101-113. Pfau, N and Cohen, A 2003. Aligning human capital practices and employee behavior with shareholder value, Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice & Research, vol. 55, no. 3, pp. 169-178. Pagano, M and Volpin, P 2005a. Managers, Workers, and Corporate Control, The Journal of Finance, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 841-868. Phipps, S 2011, Mary, Mary, quite contrary: In a male-dominated field, women contributed by bringing a touch of spirituality to early management theory and practice, Journal of Management History, vol. 17, no. 3, p. 270-281. Schwartz, M 2007, ‘The “business ethics” of management theory’, Journal of Management History, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 43-54. Sikula Sr, A, Olmosk, K, Kim, C & Cupps, S 2001, ‘A “New” Theory of Management’, Ethics & Behaviour, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 3-21. Waddell, D., Jones, G & George, J 2011, Contemporary Management, 2nd edn, McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Limited, Sydney. Read More