Evaluation of Howard Plan on the Basis of Organizational Culture - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management Outline: Introduction Howard Plan Evaluation of Howard plan on the basis of organizational culture, planning and decision making Analysis of the problem and investigation of whether the proposed plan will ensure the success of the firm Human Resources: Evaluate Browning's plan in respect of organizational culture, principles of planning and decision-making. Based on your evaluation, do you believe his plan would be successful in improving the performance of the firm Explain your answer fully applying theoretical course content from the readings and lectures in the course. Browning's Plan: Browning's Plan is based on restructuring of the current organizational structure of the Zimmer Engineering Limited. The current organizational structure of the firm is not defining the authority and responsibility of the organizational personnel clearly. The operational efficiency and profitability of an organization is greatly related to its organizational structure. For the better functioning of the organization, the duties and responsibilities of each of the individuals in the organizations have to be clearly defined and implemented. The restructuring of the organizational structure will be capable of introducing new organizational culture in the firm. Division of work helps to avoid the waste of time and effort resulting from the inefficient operations of less experienced personnel. Thus by consulting with Howard, the firm is going for a restructure by implementing Likert Linking Pin Model. Likert Linking Pin Model: It is used to bring effective change in an organization by introducing team work. As per the model there will be several interrelated working units in the organization and these units will be linked through some individuals. These individuals are known as linking pins. The interrelated work units are formed in upper levels and lower levels. The member of a higher level unit will be the leader of the lower level unit. These people act as linking pins between the upper and lower groups. Thus he holds a dual task of leading his team and at the same time he has to represent his team and protect the interest of that team in the organization. Thus Likert Pin model focuses on the group relationship and these groups will lead the firm to progress. (Linking Pin Model). Organizational Culture, Planning and decision making: These three are the important factors for the success of an organization. When the organization is going through tough conditions, there is a need for organizational changes. Here Browning and Howard are going to implement Likert Plan. Selecting a plan for the restructuring is not a difficult task. But the implementation needs cautious steps. Here the organizational environment and culture has to play an important role. Every strategy will be changed according to the specific organizational climate. Otherwise there will not be desired output. Likewise the planning and decision making are other important factors. Implementation and controlling etc. should be done in this stage. Effectiveness of Browning's Plan in respect of principles of organizational culture: Organizational culture plays a very important role in human system. The culture of a group means the sample of some assumptions that the group learned and solved the problem of external alteration and internal amalgamation. In organizational culture, values are already declared and some values are assumable ones. In the society, the history of the group consists of many stories and mythology. In organization people interact with each other, with outsiders and the surroundings. The organizational culture concentrates on the human side of the organizational life and it creates the significance of suggest a system to promote the people jointly work together and accomplish the desired objectives. This approach needs members. The members consist of leaders. Leaders have a specialized skill and behavior. They recognize the impact of their behavior in the organizational culture. Organizational approach promotes the relationship between the organization and its surroundings. The organizational culture consists of the principles of its members. Organizations establish certain principles. These principles affect the duties, decisions and characteristics of the employees. In an organization some decisions are taken about maximization of profit. These decisions are divided into two types. Group decisions and personal decisions. The organization accepts the group decisions because it promotes the overall culture of an organization. Organizational ethics describes the group of values and behavior. These ethics provide some standards accepted by the employees and employers in an organization. The important ethical values are honesty, dependability, respect, kindness etc. The manager should recognize the organizational culture because a lot of people work together jointly for accomplishing profit. There is a close relationship between employees and management. The organizational culture provides better understanding and feedback to the management for the development of the future. An understanding of organizational culture is very significant because no organization can control solely its cultural environment. Organization always follows a social system. The ethics of the organization helps to develop positive attitude towards performance. It establishes the connection between the culture, leadership and work ethics. It creates human and social capital and maintains high performance. People have alternative motivation, experiences and values. An understanding of these factors of members in an organization is important to the understanding of controlling the organizational cultures and behavior. The information of organization culture provides the organization the power of culture on human behavior and their work and it also helps in the decision making process. Management of human resources is very important in every organization for attainment of organizational objectives. The success of an organization largely depends on the caliber and motivation of people working in the organization. A job specification contains explanation regarding the personal capacities and inclination deemed necessary for successful job performance. Personal characteristics required for each position in the organization are different. The types of persons required in term soft educational qualifications, experience, aptitude etc are to be considered while selecting the transitional personnel. The conditions that are encountered on the job also have to be considered. The present situations in the Zimmer Engineering Limited are not ensuring a well prepared organizational culture. Even from the part of the owners of the business, irresponsibility and ineffectiveness can be seen. There is lack of effective co-ordination and strategies. The rule, duties, responsibilities and authorities are not clearly described. The Zimmer brothers don't show any kind of responsibility and accountability to the firm. Especially Allan Zimmer is showing an autocratic rule that he is doing things as per his will even though he doesn't have any knowledge in that area. At the same time Bernard Zimmer shows negligence and irresponsibility towards his duty. All other employees are not feeling good about the company. Thus they are ready to make any change in the system and they are supporting the effort of Browning. When considering the recommendations under the Browning's Plan there is greater scope for a well defined organizational culture in the firm. Implementation of organizational culture will help to provide maximum efficiency and productivity in the organization with effective direction and control of the human as well as material resources. The human resource will become more liable towards their duties and responsibilities with the effective organizational culture. Effectiveness of Browning's Plan in respect principles of planning: Planning is a primary function in any organization. It means that deciding in advance what is to be done, when it is to be done and by whom it is to be done in future. It is a continuous and pervasive function in the organization. Organizational planning is a vital role in management. It specifies that identifying objectives of the organization and formulating strategies to accomplish that objectives. The five functions of management are planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling. Without planning, actions will become merely random activity producing nothing but chaos. No organization can achieve its objectives without proper planning. By proper planning of the organizational functions and resource management the firm can ensure growth and profitability. In order to meet the keen competition in the market, an effective planning is essential for the firm. Manpower planning: Organizations have to recruit and retain the required number of personnel for the proper functioning of the organizations. The best use of manpower resources is another requirement. The problem that may affect the man power requirements have to be anticipated from potential surpluses or deficits. The selection of the right person and the placement to the right position is the factor deterring the effectiveness of manpower in the organization. Planning is the crucial step in the initial stage and thus it will determine the success of the plan. The firm is going to implement a new plan and it should organize how it should be done. Beyond implementing a plan, it should consider the long range plan also. The planning of organizational change is a crucial factor for the success of the organization. They have to decide at which stage the organizational change should start. Different strategy will have to be followed in each level. Effectiveness of Browning's Plan in respect of principles of Decision making: Decision making is a very important term used in human life. Decision making is the technique of recognizing and selecting of alternatives based in the values. For making a decision there are different choices to be identified. In that alternative they suggest only one choice. That choice has high chance to achieve the goals and objectives. The decision making process reduces uncertainty. Little decisions are made with correct certainty because full information about all the alternatives is rarely applicable. So decision contains risk, risk here means uncertainty of losses. The mechanism of decision making: All decisions are made in the decision environment. In decision environment, there is lot of information. The important benefits of delayed decisions are, the decision environment have large number of information. So there is time for innovation and investigation. Once the decision maker takes a decision, he may want to change that decision through insight, and thought. In the new organizational structure as prescribed under the Browning's plan, decision making can be done in an effective way. Introduction of organizational changes and Likert pin Model will make a positive impact on the growth of the firm. In Zimmer Engineering no decision making is taking place. The decisions are taken by Allan Zimmer that leads to more errors and faults. Even Browning cannot take a decision of his own relating to his specialized field. The system prevents him taking the right decision. In the new plan the decision making is done by the group. And Browning holds a vital position for the decision making. The benefit of the Plan 1. Organizational change without much pain: Likert Model is effective in the sense that it will bring effective change by satisfying Zimmer Brothers, because it is a model which will not affect the hierarchical position to a great extent. But at the same time it will encourage the group participation within the group. As per the plan Allan Zimmer will retain his position as the President and Bernard will feel free by reducing his duties. But at the same time Allan will not be allowed to carry out an autocratic leadership in the organization. Now he will be allowed to look after the areas in which he has expertise. And there will be no change for Zimmer Brothers' status. 2. There will be more communication and group effort within the organization: Since there will be more linking pins like Browning, they can ensure the success of the organization. These people have hold in two groups thus there will be efficient coordination between the group. From the organization chart it is clear that there will be coordination between the engineering and marketing departments which is essential for the firm. Browning and Bernard coordinate the work of engineering since both have an expert knowledge in engineering. Since Browning has the co-responsibility of marketing and there is direct linkage between Peter Simon (Marketing Head) also. 3. Specific job description: From the chart, it is clear that Allan Zimmer's power is limited to the finance matters only. He cannot handle critical issues such as financial planning (coordination by Browning and Allan Zimmer) and budgeting (responsibility of Browning). At the same time Browning, who has a clear vision about the firm, has a significant role in the new organization chart. He has the responsibility of role description of individuals, strategic planning, performance evaluation, policy formulation, reporting to shareholders regarding development of new initiative, return on investment, objective setting etc. 4. Flexibility and controllability: The introduction of the new system will facilitate flexibility since there are no rigid rules and procedures. The earlier chain of command goes top to down. But here there is chance for employee participation since there is a team work. And they can make self appraisal and make corrective action if necessary. Thus identifying the weak link and avoiding it in further stage will be easy. Thus co-ordination and controlling of these teams will be an easier thing. 5. Encourage motivation: Likert Model encourages group participation; thus they can boost the confidence and thereby motivate employees in a wide manner. Here employees are self motivated because of the team work and they are ready for dedicated and committed work. 6. Crisis Management: Now the organization is under crisis and they are in trouble because of the poor leadership. Even though the owners (Zimmer brothers) are not annoyed by the fact the employees are aware of the critical condition. And they understand there is a need for change. Since the employees and other board directors understand the problem, they will be ready for the action for the accomplishment of the objective. Thus the planners will get a full hearted support from the rest of the employees. 7. Other factors to be taken care of: Here the organization is going for a wide change including the top management. Thus there is need for cautious planning and implementation. If an organizational change takes place successfully the whole people of the organization should be involved in the process. Here the attitude of Zimmer Brothers is negative. Hence it is a difficult task for getting a green signal from their part. And sometimes they will be disrupting the course of action in the later stage. Thus handling Zimmer brothers will be the big problem for the planners. Organizational Change for the organization's success: Here organization goes for a wide change. The culture, environment, management style etc. are going to transform in wide manner. Since the organization is under the rule of Zimmer brothers for a long time, time will be taken for the implementation. There will be resistance for change. Thus the change has to be put in practice in a slow pace. Another important factor is the marketing environment. The firm is losing its market share due to the emergence of new competitors and poor customer service. Thus it is essential that the firm should consider the market condition also. Small changes like customer retention, should be taken care of well. Background theories of organizational change: According to Kathie Dannemiller approach three things are necessary to overcome the resistance of change. They are dissatisfaction towards the current system, a possible vision for the future and the initial steps for the future. Conclusion: The discussion on the effectiveness of Browning's plan in improving the operational performance reveals that the plan is effective for attaining the targeted objectives of the organization. In terms of the principles of organizational culture, the plan is effective for implementing a better organizational culture in the firm which will contribute to the operational performance improvement. In the competitive business environment, cost reduction is essential for achieving competency. By the appointment of right person in the right position, through restructuring of the organizational structure, maximum cost effectiveness can be ensured in the organizational operation. By delegating the decision making power to Browning when Allan is on leave from his duties, the operations of the management can be ensured in better position. Works Cited Linking Pin Model: Management Theories. Vector Study.com. 2008. 11 Apr. 2009. . Read More