Analysis of Articles about Managing Business Organisations - Essay Example

Managing Business Organisations Number February List of articles reviewed The managers job - folklore and fact _Mintzberg 2000 2. Organisational Change Management - A Critical Review _Todnem 2005 3. Change across boundaries _Balogun et al 2005 4. Complexity theories and organizational change _Burnes 2005 5. MNCs & CSR in developing countries _Ite 2004 6. Business Ethics as Practice _Clegg et al 2007 7. How women engineers do & undo gender _Powell et al 2009 8. International Relationship Marketing: Psychic Distance _Conway & Swift 1999 Review of the relevant content of the article analysed using the learning outcomes of the module and the relevant lectures: 
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Key learning points from this article or chapter. 
[at least three points] Article 1: The managers job: folklore and fact Author: Henry Mintzberg Source: Harvard Business Review, July-August 1975 This article delves on the role of the manager in organisations and attempts to distinguish between fact and what it terms as folklore. It starts by describing the classical view in which the manager at the heart of the organisation, organises, coordinates, plans and controls various aspects of the organisation. These four words, although vague, have dominated classical management theories. However, this is shown to be in contrast to the reality wherein “managers are not reflective, regulated workers, informed by their massive MIS systems, scientific, and professional”. In other words, in practice, managers fall short of what is expected of them. The purpose of the article is to highlight these points as deficiencies and therefore the need for managers to take on their expected role in order to improve their effectiveness. The author’s intention is clearly set out: to divert the reader from Fayol’s words based on the classical view and “introduce him to a more supportable … description of managerial work”. This entails that managers recognise their role and develop an understanding of both themselves and their jobs. The study involved managers from selected western countries being observed intensively and in some cases their diaries and records analysed. The synthesis revealed findings contrary to the classical view. Four perspectives were found not to hold true and are therefore folklore: (1) The manager is a reflective, systematic planner – Evidence showed that managers work unrelentingly, and their activities tend to be brief, various and discontinuous. Moreover, they dislike reflection and are more oriented towards action than planning. (2) Effective managers have no regular duties i.e. they carefully organise everything and then reap the rewards of this organisation – Evidence shows that there are always exceptions, and there are also various regular duties to be performed such as ceremonious, negotiating and processing various types of information including its relation to the business environmental. (3) Senior manager’s use aggregated information as this is best provided formally – Total or management information systems are not perfect. Evidence shows that manager’s tend to favour verbal mediation instead. (4) Management either is or is quickly becoming a science and a profession i.e. involves systematic, analytical methods – Manager’s tend to use their own judgement and intuition in making managerial decisions such as information processing and scheduling. In practice, manager’s have to fulfil a number of interpersonal roles as a figurehead, leader and liaison; informational roles as a monitor, disseminator and spokesperson, and decisional roles as entrepreneur, disturbance handler, resource allocator and negotiator. Thus, managers tend to play a more complex role involving dealing with information and decision-making. The author Professor Mintzberg then contributes to help managers gain the necessary insight through providing a set of questions for self-reflection. This is based on the understanding that managerial effectiveness is significantly influenced by such insight. Management is a vital role, hence it is equally vital to recognise folklore for what it is and strive to bring improvements in the field.Article 2: Organisational Change Management: A Critical Review Author: Rune Todnem Source: Journal of Change Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 369-380, Dec. 2005 This article is a critical review of some theories and approaches in the field of organisational change management i.e. managing change in organisations. It is argued that successfully managing change is a critical component of success in all organisations for the sake of their own survival “in the present highly competitive and continuously evolving business environment”. This sets out the importance of the subject matter in this era of globalisation, technological innovation, deregulation, etc. In short, they all display the two common characteristics of rapidity and variety. However, it is also shown that there is a dearth of theories and knowledge of approaches to change management based on strong empirical evidence. The few that do often contain conflicting information and use hypotheses in relation to the nature of contemporary organisational change management that have not been challenged. The critical review of some of these theories undertaken by the author is seen as “an important first step towards constructing a new framework for managing change”. Thus, the review has the potential to help in devising new strategies, and the recommendations for further research are made. The framework adopted is based on Senior’s (2002) three categories of change management that also links with other theories and approaches, and focuses on the general characteristics of change rather than specific change initiatives. The changes examined are those characterised by rate of occurrence, the way it is brought about, and by scale. In respect of the first change characteristic, any early management theories regarded change as necessary for remaining effective and therefore promoted continuous change, and then there are advocates of discontinuous change, which only promotes rapid shifts and avoids continuous and costly change initiatives. The examination of the second change characteristic considers planned, emergent, contingency and choice approaches. The third characteristic has little confusion. It is divided into fine-tuning, incremental adjustment, modular transformation, and corporate transformation. The recommendations draw upon the general failure of change programmes, lack of empirical research, and “fundamental lack of a valid framework for organisational change management”. Further research is recommended to be undertaken based on measures of success rates of change initiatives by first carrying out an exploration for increasing knowledge on organisational change management. This would enable identifying critical success factors for managing change, and to devise “a valid framework for change management”. The key learning points in this article is pointing out the significance of change, recognising that “the pace of change has never been greater than in the current continuously evolving business environment”, and highlighting the importance of acquiring the necessary skills for successfully managing change. The article also highlights “the need for a new and pragmatic framework for change management” as directions for future empirical-based research.Article 3: Managing Change Across Boundaries: Boundary-Shaking Practices Author: Julia Balogun, Pauline Gleadle, Veronica Hope Hailey, and Hugh Willmott Source: British Journal of Management, Vol. 16, pp. 261-278, 2005 This is another article on change management but it relates specifically to boundary spanning and boundary-shaking practices. Boundary spanning refers to activities that connect organizations to the environments in which they operate. This necessarily includes their relationships with other organisations whether it is a cooperative or competitive one. However, the focus of this article is on boundary spanning as it relates to individuals that function as agents of change so that they can “implement boundary-shaking change initiatives across intra-organizational boundaries”. These boundaries can be divisional, functional, cultural or national. The study is significant because many organisations seek to increase their economies of scale through forging alliances, merging or even acquiring other organisations on an international basis. This work begins with viewing organisations as “networks of people with a degree of common interest”. Such individuals focused upon in this article are from diverse sectors but are all active in ‘blue-chip’ organizations and able to create new networks to pursue change, and the change initiatives are also of a diverse nature. These change initiatives were managed from the top, and they required the existing organizational boundaries to be realigned. These initiatives include post-merger integration, across business synergy exploitation and integrative structure implementation. The study involved seven main case studies and several smaller scale ones in three phases, and interviewing two boundary shakers for each case. The purpose of this examination was to be able to further knowledge of internal change agencies, and change agent skills and practices. The data analysis was in the form of an inductive approach. In its second stage, the focus was on the differences between the organisational contexts and its impact on the boundary shakers. The following five categories were identified of boundary-shaking practices: “adjusting measurement systems, aligning agendas, engaging in stage management, gathering intelligence and managing up”. These were compared and contrasted in order to highlight how resources, processes and power are used within constrained contexts. It is revealed that (1) boundary-shakers engage in a variety of practices in order to establish new networks to aid their change initiatives; (2) the activities of the boundary-shakers are not confined to establishing new networks, “but also to altering the context of action” through modifying its meaning. Much of the findings are in support of Hardy’s views on change management such as change agents engaging with the ‘power of the system’. The strength of this article is that while some of the practices of boundary-shakers were as expected, it highlighted their actions as being conscious and deliberate, and furthermore, that constraining factors necessitate improvisation. Aside from the significance attached to political activity, the study also showed how change agents can work within the status quo to achieve their objectives. The methodology employed involving interviews and focus groups was helpful in gathering some minute details of the change agents which would not have been possible otherwise. There are lessons especially for change agents who have to manage changes across boundaries under constrained conditions. Article 4: Complexity Theories and Organizational Change Author: Bernard Burnes Source: International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp. 73-90, 2005 There is a wide range of complexity theories and ideas applicable to a diverse range of disciplines, but they all attempt to enhance our understanding of complex phenomena and processes. They seek to understand the order within a wider chaos, which is usually created through self-organisation. Therefore, they are also applicable to examining and understanding organisations and in particular organisational change. This paper reviews “the nature of complexity theories and their importance and implications for organisations and organisational change”. There is an overview of changes in perspectives on organisational change over the previous two decades, and an examination of a select number of complexity theories and what implications these have for organisational change. It is shown that organisation theorists remain in the stage where complexity approaches have not been applied to analyse or manage their organisations, but that this is also the case in the natural sciences. The reason for this is that complexity theories have still neither been fully developed nor unchallenged so it is therefore not surprising. There are two significant reasons for this study and understanding complexity theories. Firstly, the process of managing change is becoming more difficult due to the increasing complexity of the world we now live in. Business environments are now subject to rapid changes so organisations need to be able to cope but the competency to do so is generally lacking. Complexity theories offer a way to make sense of the situation and improve change efforts so that they are more likely to be successful. Self-organisation allows the organisation “to respond in a timely and appropriate manner to environmental changes through a process of continuous innovation …” At the heart of complexity theory are three key ideas and they are chaos, dissipative structures and complex adaptive systems. Chaos refers to the nature of dynamic systems that seem as if they are functioning in a haphazard manner, but in reality, they are governed by precise laws. The weather is a typical example from which modern ideas of complexity initially arose. Chaos also has the potential to magnify small changes in the environment causing instability that eventually results in transformed behavioural patterns. The term ‘dissipative structures’ refers to the tendency for energy to dissipate unless it is externally maintained. Such a structure may also go through states of instability before spontaneously reorganising to form a new structure. Moreover, the new structure cannot be predicted from the previous state. The third idea of ‘complex adaptive systems’ is concerned with the behaviour of numerous individual entities within the system rather than the whole system itself. A number of other concepts related to chaos, and to complexity in general are also discussed. Although there is great potential in complexity theories, especially in terms of perceiving how organisations operate or ought to in the present day complex world, they also have a number of limitations. For example, they are unable to enable thinking on an organisation’s nature and purpose to be re-evaluated. What is needed is to expand upon the concepts beyond conceiving them as “a metaphorical device” so that they can be applied to resolving specific problems associated with managing change. The point of inquiring into complexity theory is to relate it to our understanding of organisations.Article 5: Multinationals and Corporate Social Responsibility in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Nigeria Author: Uwem E. Ite Source: Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Reviews, Vol. 11, pp. 1-11, 2004 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is concerned with the ethics of managing organisations. CSR can be applied to various issues but in particular, it is also said to have “a powerful potential to make positive contributions to addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities in developing countries”. At the same time however, CSR could also potentially “whether by mistake or design, damage the same communities, politically, socially and economically”. Thus, there are potential benefits as well as threats. A case study of Shell shows that although it can make a useful contribution towards poverty alleviation in Nigeria, there is a longer-term danger of Shell effectively leading the country in its socio-economic development “with little or no contribution from the Nigerian government”. That is, the deficiencies in the government combined with its resource allocation provisions and an environment conducive to allow development enables multinational corporations (MNCs) to play a part in such CSR initiatives. However, poverty alleviation by MNCs however well intentioned could potentially fail because effective CSR must be accompanied by “good governance in all its dimensions” as shown in this article. There are problems of legitimacy and transparency in the Niger Delta, especially corruption even in high levels. Given also Nigeria’s heavy dependence on oil and MNCs in the oil industry and the accompanying lack of social justice and equity in oil wealth distribution, the author describes Nigeria as a ‘rentier state’. Shell is one such MNC that has the potential to play a significant role in eliminating poverty but the deficiencies in macro-economic planning “backed by equitable resource allocation and an enabling environment” makes their efforts more likely to fail. Shell’s efforts began around fifty years ago, and the Nigerian government has consistently failed to eradicate poverty despite several well-conceived initiatives. Likewise, several private multinational oil corporations have had little impact due to a host of problems. Notable among these problems were corruption, lack of accountability, instability, inadequate funding and the lack of a master plan. The article then gives an overview of Shell’s more recent efforts to become a leading player in Nigeria’s development. There was a shift in its CSR strategy from one of risk and managing reputation to that of integrating sustainable development. Shell concentrated on development instead of simple assistance and worked to strengthen partnerships and involving other stakeholders. It also stresses on transparency and accountability. Nonetheless, sufficient government support has not been forthcoming, which brings into question the extent of MNC involvement in social development. The better solution for reducing poverty is for a comprehensive good governance programme. In this way, government and business work together for the sake of social and economic development. This study therefore shows that the ideal situation is for the government to assume its normal role of distributing wealth and establishing equitable policies whereas MNCs should remain preoccupied with running their enterprises for increasing wealth in the economy. This is the main learning point in this article.Article 6: Business Ethics as Practice Author: Stewart Clegg, Martin Kornberger, and Carl Rhodes Source: British Journal of Management, Vol. 18, pp. 107-122, 2007 The practice of business ethics is developed as a conceptualisation by the authors of this article in line with the aim of developing “a theoretical framework with which to explore ethics in organisation theory that moves beyond being either prescriptive or morally relative”. That is, the approach of ‘ethics as practice’ is built on the foundation of viewing ethics as a continuous process of debating and contestation centred on moral choices. The systematic attention is necessary to make sense of the subject, and the approach taken enables conceptualising the interaction between ‘rule following’ and ‘rule violation’, that is, between the subjects and systems in place. The obstacle to giving importance to ethics is described as ‘scientific naïveté’, and there is a general reluctance for theoretical discourse. This article then justifies the importance of ethics in the field of management and organisational theory, examines ethics with respect to what is described as “ambiguous, unpredictable, and subjective contexts of managerial action” followed by the discursive means to acquiring ‘managerial subjectivity’ and the scope for fulfilling the function of moral agents. In other words, it focuses on the context of ethics within a theoretical framework and how this is interpreted. The philosophical basis taken is that of Kant’s ideas on deontology i.e. the nature of duty and obligation. One disadvantage of this approach is that it is not able to accommodate the rapidly changing environments. It is highlighted that differences of opinion exist as to whether ethics pertains to individuals only or can also pertain to organisations. These authors follow the likes of Gilligan who view morality as grounded in daily experiences of people without generalising. As far as business activity is concerned, this means viewing ethics as practice, but a key issue is whether this can be made to concord with business goals. Value statements and codes of conduct are the more common forms of ethical rules issued in organisations, and these are based on modernist premises that argue for applying universal codes. The above characterises the ‘normative’ approach being based on moralistic or rule-based conceptions. Ethics can also be seen as contextual in nature; relative to the socio-cultural environment, which includes the organisation’s form and history. It is argued that ethics really begins where the context does not correspond to an existing rule. Thus, there are “contextual and situational factors that shape ethics in organizations” and this demands a focus on practices, although the authors do admit of the necessity for some moral agency. In practice, members of organisations always have to make choices in specific situations in relation to ethical and other frameworks. The competing possibilities are what pose moral dilemmas especially if they are in conflict. It is argued that ‘predetermined ethical systems’ are unable to deal with such dilemmas because what matters is how they are related to in practice. Thus, rather than constructing rules in advance, it should be noted that ethical decisions arise out of dilemmas. However, this does not mean that there is no place for establishing codes of conduct and rules in advance as have a useful role in guiding conduct. What is needed in addition, is “how people adhere to, violate, ignore or creatively interpret formally and culturally ethical precepts such as may be contained in codes”. This article then takes the subject matter further by inquiring into the relationship between ethics and discourse, and ethics and subjectivity, and examines putting ethics into action before proposing a new research agenda.Article 7: How Women Engineers Do and Undo Gender: Consequences for Gender Equality Author: Abigail Powell, Barbara Bagilhole and Andrew Dainty Source: Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 16, No. 4, July 2009 Engineering is traditionally perceived as a masculine discipline and therefore considered unsuitable for women. Although women have been encouraged to enrol in engineering courses and enter the field, there has been only limited success. This article uses empirical research involving a longitudinal project and semi-structured interviews with a qualitative approach to explore the experiences of women engineering students and considers the explanation for behaviour and attitudes in terms of gender performance. Butler’s implication that ‘doing gender’ leads to being ‘undone’ was found to be true for women students as they were found to perform their gender role in such a way that was oriented to gaining acceptance by males. This way entails utilising certain coping strategies, behaving like the males, accepting gender discrimination in order to gain a reputation, seeing the advantages of working in engineering as outweighing the disadvantages, and even to the extent of adopting an ‘anti-woman’ stance. These strategies are considered as “part of women’s enculturation and professionalization in engineering” but in doing so, they have to put aside valuing ‘femaleness’. What happens is that gender performance fails “to challenge the gendered culture of engineering, and in many ways contributes to maintaining an environment that is hostile to women”. Despite the typical experiences described above, there is a case for encouraging more women in engineering. By doing so, the field can benefit from a wider range of skills both masculine and feminine, and from a potentially greater pool of customers. However, statistics are presented showing the limited success of government initiatives to increase female participation. The authors’ own primary research indicated gender rather than being given becomes a performance even if unconsciously for the sake of coping in a male dominated work environment. The situation effectively blurs the distinction between the two genders. The authors conclude that there is need for a new initiative wherein men and women exhibit neither sameness nor difference. Other studies show that obstacles faced by women are likely to remain “because of the way women in engineering adapt to these masculine cultures”. As mentioned and described earlier, women are found to adopt certain coping strategies and gender thereby becomes an issue of conflict for women between their personal and professional identities. This so called ‘double bind effect’ affects women in the engineering profession. Women are either seen as incompetent or if they happen to be competent, they are compelled to be unfeminine. As for men, their masculinity is reinforced. Based on these findings, the authors then make some suggestions for future research. For example, one area of study could be how gender ‘doing or undoing’ by female engineers varies over time as they gain experience. The authors also mention their findings as being in agreement with Sagebiel’s argument, that “engineering is gendered and, demonstrates some of the practical utility of Butler’s ideas surrounding ‘undoing gender’”. That is, women perform gender in a certain manner in order to be accepted because that is how the engineering field expects them to be, but this also automatically makes them devalue or even reject their feminineness. Article 8: International Relationship Marketing: The importance of psychic distance Author: Tony Conway and Jonathan S. Swift Source: European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34, No.’s 11-12, pp. 1391-1413, 1999 This conceptual paper stresses the importance of psychic distance for successful relationship marketing (RM) strategies, especially in the international context. It is shown that the greater this distance, the greater is the time and effort required for developing a successful business relationship. Furthermore, “At the different stages of relationship development, different variables of psychic distance assume relatively greater levels of importance which are likely to have implications for the implementation of a relationship marketing strategy”. In RM, information is gathered about the other side so that they can be dealt with effectively and favourably. For example, buyers and sellers can cooperate with a focus on improving communication and assisting the buyer. The perspectives of various researchers are mentioned on this subject, and they have all made useful contributions to further our understanding of RM and customer satisfaction. The article provides useful information for readers by examining both positive as well as the negative outcomes of different variables involved in the process, and what is essential for achieving a successful relationship. Important characteristics are shown to be a means of maintaining the relationship and the virtues of trust, and so on. The importance of trust cannot be underestimated. Trust is an essential ingredient that forms the basis of perception of the other party in the relationship. At the same time, trust is also something that is not acquired easily, especially in the formative stages of the relationship. It is shown that during this early stage of the relationship, there is a greater obligation on sellers towards the buyers, as the trust of the latter has to be gained. As the relationship develops however, this trust would need to become transformed into mutual empathy. Thus, experience is a significant factor in shaping customer satisfaction, and the better this is, the greater are the chances for the relationship enduring. This does not mean that the relationship must necessarily exhibit a completely positive experience for both parties at all stages. Risks are inherent so it is expected that both will allow for this and show preparedness and flexibility. This study has important implications for future research given the indication of a relationship development and its impact on psychic distance and relationship marketing change. It is suggested that relationships can be examined in different contexts such as between businesses or market segments. This can be used as a basis for constructing a model in which we can assess “levels of psychic distance and correlating these with levels of empathy, experience, satisfaction and commitment/trust for each level of relationship development”. The potential of this research is significant for enhancing our understanding of customer satisfaction, and the issue of trust and commitment in marketing relationships. Important lessons for readers are to think about how RM can succeed, i.e. the factors that improve the chances for customer satisfaction, and the importance of collaboration and communication in this endeavour. Read More