Socio-Technical Design - Essay Example

School: Topic: Lecturer: Presentation Given a conflictive situation between quality and manufacturing, what kind of technology would you believe is being used by each industry? In the contemporary marketplace, it is important for manufacturing industries to ensure that they produce quality products that are acceptable in the highly competitive situation. A conflictive situation between quality and manufacturing may arise due to the current trends in globalization. Industries are continuously using innovative methods to produce good quality products. Technology transfer has made it possible for them to access modern technology. The different in the objectives of quality and manufacturing are also major factors that lead to a conflicting situation. It takes a relatively long time to accomplish the objectives of quality assurance, and to ascertain that the manufactured goods are within the accepted standards. On the other hand, the main objectives of manufacturing are to reduce the cost of production and factory expenditures and increase the output within the minimum period of time (Thompson 2003). Quality assurance is therefore seen as a factor that can reduce the desired output due to the time it consumes. Manufacturers are faced with the challenge of establishing new methods of designing, producing, selling and distributing products. Automated data collection technology is used by many industries in order to ensure that products conform to the accepted International Standards of Quality while maintaining the manufacturing throughput (Perrow 1967). Failure to adhere to quality standards may lead to reduced marketability of manufactured goods. Throughput in this case is the amount of good quality products produced over a short period of time. 2. Describe which of the four Miles and Snow (1978) strategies your organization uses. Which technology does it use? Are the strategies and technology congruent? Why or why not? Miles and Snow (1978) postulated that the manner in which industries decide to deal with the problem of market share management, manufacturing problem as well as the managerial problem, determines its strategies. My organization uses the strategies of defender organizations. It is usually faced with the problem of managing its market share. However the operating environment has turned out to be stable, which is one of the factors required by such organizations in order for them do perform well. It has measures for enhancement of cost leadership which helps in solving the entrepreneurship issues. It specializes in one area of production, manufacturing consumer goods only, whereby it focuses on the down market which is well established, and helps it to accomplish the objective of offering products at low prices. It accomplishes efficiency through maintaining vertical integration. The organization maintains centralized operations, official procedures and detached functions which contribute to its efficiency. It works on long term plans which are accomplished mainly due to the fact that the operating environment is usually not affected by drastic changes. The organization maintains efficiency through the use of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology. This is useful in its efforts to maintain close contact with the down market. This technology is congruent with the organization’s strategies since they involve dealing with consumer goods in the down market, and therefore they need to possess vital information regarding the consumers. This technology is also important in developing marketing plans for its products. 3. Briefly describe the four major schools of organizational theory. Which theory is your favorite? Why? The Classical School An organization is viewed as an engine whose driving force is purpose and goals. The organization is seen as having a clear focus on particular goals, and that the internal operations of the organization are designed to accomplish these goals. The organizational design is usually based on reason, having all the operations formalized to a great extent. There is a clearly defined hierarchy in the division of labor and distribution of control. There are rules that govern the manner in which the responsibilities are distributed amongst the employees. These rules define the roles of each position in the organization (Tan and Tong 2004). It is capable of maintaining efficiency since the organization is protected from drastic changes in the operating environment. The organizational goals are clear and the conduct of employees is defined by the prescribed roles. The Human Relations School The understanding of organization is viewed in the human perspective. The manner in which the employees within an organization relate to each other, enthusiasm of the employees in regard to their work as well as their motivation for work is a significant factor that determines the achievability of organizational goals. The conception in this school is that human beings are generally good, and that they perform well when they are satisfied with their work. It is also assumed that they are capable of continuously perfecting their work mainly when organizational goals are congruent with personal interests. The organization is seen to have a significant role to play in promoting employee satisfaction through addressing their needs, which is important in the improvement of employee productivity (Tan and Tong 2004). The Decision-Making School This school tends to develop a bridge between the classical and the human relations schools. Organizations are viewed as sophisticated systems in regard to the information they deal with. Their complexity in decision making, management of processes and analyzing information is seen as an indicator of sophistication. The judiciousness of humans is seen to have a limit, and that the absence of information regarding all the potential alternatives, the impact of the decisions that people make, and the prospects of these decisions are the reasons why they remain bounded and limited. This leads to the practice whereby decision makers tend to look for a rewarding solution through developing a model of authenticity that is simplified depending on previous experiences, conception of the prevailing circumstances and the common alternatives. It is believed that humans can only behave rationally in dexterity when they are connected in an extensive succession of information processing. According to Thompson (2003), the recognition of humans in the organization processes is vital to its success. Within the organization, they are able to claim their rationality. The Contingency School This school makes the assumption that there is no clearly defined way for organizing to accomplish maximum effectiveness and productivity. The organizational structure and processes are understood depending on the operating environment and the technology that the organization adopts. The business environment is a critical determinant of the effectiveness of internal operations and the management framework in the organization. Susan (1998) observes that the characteristics of the technology taken up by the organization are significant in determining the framework of the units of work that undertake the organizational activities. The human relations school is my best since it focuses on employee satisfaction. As Thompson (2003), states, happy employees are productive employees, and therefore an organization is likely to succeed when employees are enthusiastic about their work. 4. Is the socio-technical system approach appropriate for cross-cultural teams in multinational organizations? Defend your position. The socio-technical systems approach is a significant strategy that focuses on the amalgamation of technological and social systems within the organization. Mumford (2006) observes that these two features are critical to the success of an organization, and that they should be taken as mutually dependent aspects of the organization. Organizations should develop trade-offs since the arrangements that may be optimum for the technological aspect may not be optimum for the social aspect, and therefore the interdependence when considering the two is necessary. This approach is focused on adopting technology in organizations, which is ethically satisfactory. Multinational organizations operate in environments with a number of cultures. It is important to ensure that the technology adopted is acceptable in all the cultures in which it operates in order to ensure that the employees own the organizational goals, which makes it possible to accomplish them. It also maintains competitiveness and a strong market share due to adoption of technology that is not offensive to the neighborhood (Harris 2000). References 1. Harris, D. L. (2000). Seven Principles for Sustainable Social System: Lessons from Teams. Organizations and Communities. Competitiveness Review, 10(2), 169. 2. Mumford, E. (2006). The Story of Socio-Technical Design: Reflections on its Successes, Failures and Potential. Information Systems Journal, vol. 16(4), pp. 317 - 342 3. Miles, R. E., and Snow C. (1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and process. New York: McGraw-Hill. 4. Perrow, C. (1967). A framework for the comparative analysis of organizations. American Sociological Review, 32: 194-208. 5. Susan J., Boal K., and Hunt J. (1998). Organizational Adaptation to Institutional Change: A Comparative Study of First-Order Change in Prospector and Defender Banks. Administrative Science Quarterly. 6. Thompson, J. (2003). Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative Theory. Somerset, NJ: Transaction. 7. Tan P. M. and Tong T. W. (2004). Ownership Types and Strategic Groups in Emerging Economies. The Journal of Management Studies 41 pp. 1105–1129. Read More