Elements of Management Skills and How It Is Applicable to Business - Assignment Example

Running Head: ARTICLE REVIEW ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT, CAREER MANAGEMENT AND ELEMENTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE NAME PROFESSOR UNIT/ COURSE DATE Discuss the Elements of Management Skills and How It Is Applicable to Business Environments Tied To – Week 2 Defence has been my area of expertise for the last 24 years, posed with the daily challenges of servicing it with microcosm of the Information Communication Technology (ICT). The management of defence related issues such as Defence clearance, does require you to coordinate and work in the environment all requiring the need of management both as a skill and as a responsibility. Active learning, on its own provides for continuance and mastery of the proper management skills. A proper understanding and insight is suitable in ensuring that the desired management goals and strategies are achieved. In this case, therefore the importance of continued learning is crucial as “good managers are good learners” and learning is a ‘relatively permanent changes in human capabilities that occurs as a result of experience rather than the natural growth process’ (Hitt, Miller & Colella 2009 p. 111). Learning in my own view is a continual process, with different management ideas being borne each and every day, for instance ICT technology continues to evolve and change, and through learning one can keep abreast of the multiple management roles that come with it. As considered by Buckley and Monks (2008) that the workplace is a changing environment with an increasing challenge on the managers to continue to be innovative, improvise, and reflect on the organizations experience and management. Queensland, in this day and age continues to be considered as a hub of dramatic upheaval in terms of boom and bust cycle of economic stability. However, in my opinion it is quite difficult to keep up with the pace of technologies and at a particular time learning would be considered a full time thing because technology will be changing at a remarkable rate. A manager, in my own opinion must be able to keep up with the trends in management as well as keep the employees well informed and aware of any changes that do occur within the work environment. Perception as has been considered is a cognitive process through which people perceive, organize and interpret information from their environment (Schermerhorn, Hunt and Osborne p. 80). The ability of a person to cognize information and interpret it is crucial for any manager or for the management of any organization. For instance this year organisations find the mining sector slowing and being more considered in spend and the public sector laying off or retrenching 14,000 public sector employees some 2000 being ICT specialists. So ICT options are thick on the ground in terms of resource selection but specific skills, qualifications and suitability remain scarce. The way one person perceives or cognizes things are different and therefore as a manager one ought to be able to appreciate the different views that might occur within an organization as well as integrate them in decision making. The ability to perceive, through a person’s experience or given situations is essentially important in ensuring that as a manger one is successful. The workplace environment is changing so rapidly it is increasingly difficult to adopt meaningful longer term strategies that will both service the clients and allow us to stay in profitable business, and should we be able to do that, to then maintain a team capable of providing this service to the client and delivering results provides an additional layer of complexity. The defence sector is considered to be marred with different management approaches each and every day. I have worked as an army officer, working at the Royal Military Academy Duntroon for 18months where I emerged as a shiny Lieutenant with the theory of management of teams across boundaries in structured and hierarchical groups. This enabled me to be exposed in all the best practices of management and communications. In light of being aware of what is required in this setup, being mindful is crucial especially in paying crucial attention to the ‘here and now’ and to invest in the present with full awareness and concentration” (Tremmel 1993 p.433). Sensitivity, being open to new information and awareness of multiple perceptions in problem solving are all important for me in the field of defence, in consideration of the management task that befall a defence officer. In my view, I would disagree with Gosling and Mintzberg (2004 p. 156) on their analogy to a first kiss could not have been further from reality. A person’s destiny is in their own hands, and to become a manager, there is a need to incorporate learning and experience as well as achieve a little success in order to make it to a management position. A manager is not appointed from the least, or based on the liking or favouritism, but being made manager must be out of merit, performance and experience within any workplace environment. Discuss the Elements of Organisational Structures – Week 4 The dynamic personnel management requirements can be considered as a complex and distinctive feature in the defence management especially in the Australian community. This is based on the fact that defence’s personnel management should have the capability to respond to its external and internal environment and keep abreast of all factors and dimensions that may affect it. David Silverman (1971 p.147) likens an organization as social institutions with particular characteristics with their creators having particular goals with legitimate symbols, a clear definition of the source of authority as well as the relationship of member,. The external organization environment is critical in the Defence sector is greatly influenced by the external environment especially in relation to decision making, management strategy activities as well as practices. The external environment can be categorized into two; the General Environment and the Task Environment. The organization’s general environment includes the broad dimensions and forces in its surroundings, including the economic, technological, socio-cultural, political-legal and international dimensions while the Task environment does consists of the specific organizations and/ or groups that influence the business including competitors, customers , suppliers , regulators and strategic allies. The Defence organization does depend on the environment, in order to successfully manage its operations. The environment affects any organizations, with the effect differing with the different organization reaction .The personnel are considered to be affected either positively or negatively depending on how the industry does manage the environmental effects. In this view the defence industry is directly affected by the environmental factors especially on the Personnel Management Strategies. Personnel Management is crucial and central to the success and sustainment of any organization, based on the fact that it does influence the management decisions and actions that affect the nature and relationship between the management and with the employees. The different approaches that need to be taken as considered is the open-systems approach, based on the fact that an organization is considered as a set of connected parts that does interact with the external environment in order to achieve its goals with different characteristics (Anderson 2010). The International defence of the Western Countries does rely on the relationships of strategic allies, and with the increase in the vulnerability of Australia, and then Australia has to seek support in tackling terrorism. This is done through the coordination and cooperation among all levels of the strategic allies in order to adopt international approaches and national defence strategies. This therefore means that working with other persons in defence internationally, means that the external environment is crucial for the success of the defence industry. An organization, especially the defence industry cannot be successful if it is self-contained, that is they do rely on the supply of ammunition, skills from the employees, financial assistance all this are important for the success of the organization. The element of an originations structure are considered to be six as argued by Child (1984 p.5) to include; assignment of tasks and responsibilities, formal reporting relationships, clustering of individuals into sections, system designs for effective communication, delegation of authority and the provision of systems for performance appraisal and reward for employees. The Australian Defence has a structure including the, management, the defence teams with a system of awards as well as it is ICT dependent in all the communications within its setup. Crucial to this its success does depend on the effective functioning of each different structure in ensuring that the desired outcome is achieved especially in relation to its success. The skills of defence personnel are also crucial competent with that of their allies and the more a person is multi-skilled the higher their productivity in the organization. The organizational structure as well as well as the Personnel management strategies is all important in the success of the defence industry. As stated an organization, is dependent on how well it dies coordinate with each department, its cooperation and coordination with the external environment and international allies in ensuring that they achieve success in achieving an aim of providing security. On can say that an organization cannot claim to operate in a vacuum, but needs to be managed properly to ensure it achieves its goals and aims in relation to how it performs and works. Elements of Career Management- Week 9 Arthur, Hall and Lawrence (1989 p. 8) defined career as ‘the evolving sequence of a person’s work experience overtime’. A career is considered to be one irrespective of the number of jobs one has had, it is a dynamic concept , it does involves work experience and with over time. I have been working as an Infrastructure Systems Integration Programme Manager; I would seek to say that considering the definition, I might consider it as being a career. To be a successful in any career, it means that one has to be able to work in a given environment or area with different people. A career is usually influenced by an individual and most people do actually want to fit into their careers. As an Infrastructure Systems Integration Programme Manager I am mostly familiar with Cohen & Bailey’s. ‘Project Teams’ consisting of small units of people committed to providing a specific output against a specific cost and time. I have worked with and led project teams over the last 10 years and have found that like the people that work within them teams are very dynamic. I have never found two teams that are the same. That is not to say they will not produce the same output at the end of the day, however how they get there will be different. This is due to the individuals that make up the team, each have different characteristics that change the dynamics of the team they belong to; some that are good for the team and some that are detrimental to the team. For example: A team may consist of a group of individuals working well together to achieve a common goal. These individuals may all be quiet achievers, happy to achieve their goal and receive the recognition from the organisation without a lot of fuss and continue with their next goal or task. A manager may place a boisterous, loudly spoken individual into the team which can upset the balance within the team. Each individual may provide suitable work outputs, however the personalities within can clash and cause disruption to the overall team output. Therefore I agree with Ruth Wageman’s (Australian Government, Department of Defence) in the view that critical success factors that distinguish “superb” teams from those that was ineffective in relation to clash of personalities. However I would like to add one more, an eighth factor: Team Cohesiveness. Without cohesiveness a team will not function efficiently even with a well-designed structure and good coaching. A cohesive team in my opinion is one that despite their different views they can work effectively to come with an appropriate outcome suitable for every member of the team and also to the organization. Personality of an individual does affect how a team works based on their assessment as identified by John Holland (1973, 1985, and 1997) that there are different personality types that do exist especially in any given organization. These include; the realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional. Each individual working separately without cooperation and correlation with the other can be a hindrance in the success of any organization. It is therefore crucial as a manger to consider the ways in which one can match up all this characteristic of individuals in ensuring that the best is brought out of them. For instance certain personality types can be grouped to work together to ensure that their careers are enhanced in a particular way, to enhance their experience within the workplace, ensure stability as well as career satisfaction. Career anchors are considered to arise or result from the combination of values, motives, talents and skills that an individual has, which in turn inform the career a person wishes to follow (Schein, 1993). This therefore means that as a manger one has to be able to match a person’s anchors with the values, management, rewards within the organization through aligning employee development, transfer, promotion and rewards with the individuals anchors (Inkson, 2007). In my role as Infrastructure Systems Integration Programme Manager, it would be important for me to discuss with other managers on how the organization can improve employee anchors by ensuring that they do get what they want in relation to their jobs within the workplace and focusing more on the employee satisfaction. Career management, in view is not wholly based on what an individual can do within the organization, but what on can achieve when working with other people. As identified , a career is not only shaped by an individual working solely, but also from the experience that one gathers while working with other people in order to ensure that they get the best out of their chosen career paths. Speaking from the viewpoint of being a manager myself, it would be important to utilize and maximize the use of project teams in ensuring that all those that I manage attain their career goals as well as give their best towards the success of the organization. References Anderson D L, 2010, Organisation development: the process of leading organisational change, SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA. Arthur M B, Hall D T and Lawrence B S, 1989, Handbook of career theory, Cambridge University Press, New York. Australian Government, Department of Defence, “Defence People Plan 2006-2016” Buckley F and Monks K, 2008, “Responding to Managers' Learning Needs in an Edge-of-Chaos Environment: Insights From Ireland”, Journal of Management Education, vol. 32, no. 2 pp. 146– 163. Child J, 2005, Organisation: contemporary principles and practice, Blackwell, London. Cohen SG & Bailey DE, 1997, ‘What makes teams work: group effectiveness research from the shop floor to the executive suite’ Journal of Management, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 239-290. Davidson P & Griffin R W, 2003, Management: an Australasian Perspective, Addison Wesley Longman, South Melbourne. Gosling J and Mintzberg H, 2003, “The Five Minds of a Manager”, Harvard Business Review vol. 81 no. 11, pp. 54-63. Holland J L, 1997, Making vocational choices: a theory of vocational personalities and work environments, 2nd edn, Psychological Assessment Press, Odessa, FL. Inkson K, 2007, Understanding careers: the metaphors of working lives, SAGE Publications. Schermerhorn J R Jr, Hunt J G, Osborne R N, 2008, Organizational Behavior, John Wiley & Sons Inc, Jefferson City, MO. Tremmel R, 1993, “Zen and the art of reflective practice in teacher education”, Harvard Educational Review, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 434–458. Read More