The Art of Organization - Essay Example

Topic: Lecturer: Presentation: Introduction Management is the art of getting things done through and with people but it is also a science as it uses empirically derived and tested general principles developed by Frederick Taylor the father of scientific management. Management thought has evolved over a long period from medieval to the knowledge age beginning with Taylor, Henry Ford, and the human relations school. Weihrich, Cannice and Koontz (2010: 4) define management as “the process of designing and maintaining an environment in which individuals, work together in groups, efficiently accomplishing selected aims.” For Henry Fayol “To Manage is to forecast, to plan, to organize, to command, to co-ordinate and to control” (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter 2012). These are the major functions performed by any manager in any organization although the functions differ depending on the size of the organization. To perform these functions, managers do need to have power and authority in order to elicit compliance and commitment from the employees. However, with all the resources in the world, an organization cannot achieve its goals if it is not accompanied by effective management especially in modern times when management has become so complex and demanding owing to globalization. Effective management in this case, depends on how well the managers exercise their power and authority over subordinates. In this essay, I will argue that management is both an art and a science which requires effective exercise of power to elicit compliance and commitment. I will argue that it is an art in the sense that it has its own creative skills, tools and techniques. It also requires intelligence, innovation, an individual approach, discipline and dedication as well as practicability. It is a science in that it utilizes empirically tested principles and draws heavily from social sciences such as economics, sociology and psychology. To be successful in the management field, management cannot be reduced to either an art or science but should be taken as both an art and a science. Managers in the organization exercise various types of power in an effort to influence the followers so that they can be committed and engaged to their work hence improved performance and success for the organization. Koontz and Weihrich define power as “the ability of individuals or groups to induce or influence the beliefs or actions of other persons or groups (2008: 179). Influence in this case according to Silos (2003) is the ability to make the followers strive towards a common objective by affecting their thoughts, feelings and behavior. The most recognized forms of power for managers are those derived from J. French and B.H Raven studies of social power in 1959 and include: legitimate, coercive, reward, referent, and expert power. The first three forms of power are related to the position occupied by the manager in the organization while the last two relate to behavior of individual managers. Successful use of power depends on how well the manager combines these forms of power to elicit commitment and compliance from employees rather than resentment and resistance. Koontz and Weihrich (2008) argue that high levels of both position and personal power result to highest overall level of power, low position and personal power result in the weakest power overall while a combination of high and low personal and position power lead to moderate overall power. Griffin and Moorhead (2013) on the other hand argue that the outcome depends on the leader’s base of power and how the base is operationalized as well the individual characteristics of subordinates. Although the five types of power are vital for managers, coercive power should be avoided at all cost as it often leads to resistance especially if used in a hostile or manipulative way (Green 1999). Koontz and Weihrich (2008: 179) view legitimate power as resulting from position and derived from the cultural system of rights, obligations and duties whereby a ‘position’ is accepted by people as being ‘legitimate.’ It is thus based on the belief that the manager has a right to make request and the subordinate has the obligation to fulfill that request. The legitimate request argues Green (1999) may be verbal or written but should be a polite rather than an arrogant demand if commitment is to be achieved. If the followers view the request as within the manager’s scope of authority, they are likely to comply with the request as opposed to when they view the request as illegitimate. In this case, they are likely to ignore or resist the request especially if it is a dangerous affair or unpleasant. In exercising this power, managers need to state their requests in a clear and concise manner. In most cases, followers obey this request because it is their obligation to obey thus they do not add extra effort; they just act in compliance. Coercive power is defined by Griffin (2011: 334) as “the power to force compliance by means of psychological, emotional or physical threat.” It entails use of disciplinary actions such as layoffs, fines, demotion, reprimands and in extreme cases termination. It may also involve use of abusive language towards the employees. In most cases (Nelson & Quick, 2012) it used to elicit compliance since subordinates fear punishment and the more punitive the elements under a manager’s control and the important they are to subordinates, the more coercive power the manager possesses. On the other hand, the more the manager uses this power, the more likely he/she is to invoke resentment and resistance. Green (1999: 56) argues that coercive power should be avoided unless absolutely necessary as it is the most difficult to use and the most likely to result in undesirable outcome. It may also lead to low productivity as it involves continuous monitoring and supervision leading to worker demotivation. It should thus be only used to deter harmful behavior such as theft but in a consistent and uniform way that portrays impartiality. It should also be clearly linked to the offense committed and given after obtaining adequate information about the events otherwise it could lead to resentment (Griffin & Moorhead 2013). Another power that managers’ exercise and which is derived from their position in the organization is reward power. This is “the explicit or implicit promise to give a person something under the manager’s control for carrying out a request or for performing a task” (Green 1999: 54). Due to their position, managers have the power to give or withhold rewards such as salary increases, bonuses, promotion, praise and recognition. Griffin (2011: 334) argues that the greater the number of rewards the manager controls and the more important they are to subordinates, the greater is the manager’s power. If the subordinates value the reward, they are bound to comply with manager’s request. However, the manager should be sincere, and consistent. If used properly, it can be a source of referent power. Research conducted by Yukls (Green 1999: 56) indicates that effective leaders rely more on personal power than position power. One such type of power is expert power derived from manager’s information or expertise. If a manager has access to information or technical breakthrough that no other person possesses, then he possesses expert power and is bound to elicit compliance from those who need that information. To engender commitment, the manager needs to be persuasive and the subordinates need to share his task goals (Green, 1999; Griffin & Moorhead, 2013).If the subordinates do not share in the goals or if the manager makes arrogant demands, they are likely to resist. However, to keep their status and influence, they have to keep learning and improving since their power disappears once they reveal that information. The last type of personal power manager exercise is referent power. Power in this case, is based on identification, imitation, loyalty and charisma and some follow the leader due to similarities in personality, background and attitude or because they bear the same management philosophy (Griffin 2011: 335). This type of power is very important in eliciting compliance and does not depend on the person’s position in the organization or expertise of the manager. Great men like Martin Luther King, Jr and Nelson Mandela possessed this type of power and had great following. It requires possession of charisma which has the ability to inspire loyalty and enthusiasm. According to Green (1999) most people comply with this power to get to gain approval. If the subordinates view the request as harmful to the leader, they are likely to resist but if they think it is of interest to the leader they are likely to comply and be committed to it. For Griffin (2011: 385) referent power can only expect compliance if used in helpful and nonpunitive way. It is the most valuable type of power. In conclusion, managers exercise five types of power divided into position and personal power. Position power includes legitimate, coercive and reward power which reside in the job while personal power includes expert and referent power which reside in the individual. The most likely to produce compliance according to Green (1999) are reward and legitimate power. Compliance refers to the “subordinate’s will to carry out leader’s wishes as long as that will require extraordinary effort” (Griffin & Moorhead 2013: 382). Expert power is temporary as it depends on continuous learning while coercive power is not recommended for use unless absolutely necessary since it often results in resentment and resistance. Referent power, on the other hand, is the most valuable as it elicits compliance and commitment and is needed for other types of power to function effectively. Controversy over whether management is an art or a science has been raging on for decades and has not been settled yet. However, most researchers do agree that management is both a science and an art. Art in this case refers to creative skills and talent which people require to conduct certain activities effectively to achieve results while science refers to a systematic body of knowledge which is universally accepted (Minzberg 2009). Art requires practical application while science requires used of empirically tested general principles and is often attributed to Frederick Winslow Taylor the father of scientific management who came up with principles to enhance labor productivity in the workplace (Taylor 2007). Just like an art, management does require the practical application of knowledge. One cannot just rely on theory to achieve an artistic piece be it an object or item such as poetry rather it requires the person to use the knowledge learnt in theory practically to produce such work. As such, theory alone is not enough. In the day-to-day running of organizations, managers do need to apply practical skills to achieve results (White 2014). For example, they have to develop plans and execute them if organizational goals are to be achieved. They also do have to practically deal with the employees to make them be productive. While performing the five functions of planning, organizing, staffing, leading and controlling the manager is applying the skills he learned while obtaining his degree or diploma in management. Just like an artist, managers do need to be creative in everything that they do and also inspire creativity in their subordinates. They also need to be innovative to steer the organization to greater heights. Contemporary organizations operate in a very dynamic global and competitive environment which requires adapting thus frequent changes (Weihrich et al. 2010). Failure to adapt to the environment leads to loss of competitive advantage and consequently failure just the artist is thrown out of the market if he/she does not come up with new products continuously. Management also entails making decisions and these are the initiative or innovativeness of an individual manager and cannot be easily reproduced by another just like a piece of art. Management is also an art in that it calls for an individual approach of handling situations. The reason why quality of performance differs from one artist to the other is the use of personal skills and the same case applies to successful managers (Mintzberg 2009; Robbins et al. 2012). The way managers manage is based on their skills, knowledge, personality and experience. That is why different managers use different leadership styles to accomplish same objectives and why some managers are regarded as good or effective and others as bad or ineffective. Furthermore, they are required to be result oriented otherwise the organization may never achieve its goals (White 2014). References Green, R.D (1999) Leadership as a function of power. Journal of the Association of Proposal Management Professional, pp.54-56. http://uthscsa.edu/gme/documents/lspasafunctionofpower.pdf Griffin, R.W (2011). Fundamentals of management. 6 ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Griffin, R.W and Moorhead, G (2013). Organizational behavior: managing people and organizations. Mason, OH: Cengage Koontz, H and Weihrich, H (2008) Essentials of management: an international perspective. 7ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill. Mintzberg, H (2009) Managing. Santa Barbara, CA: Berrett Koehler Publishers, Inc Nelson, D.L and Quick, J. C (2012) Organizational behavior: science, the real world, and you. 8 ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Robbins, Stephen., Bergman, Rolf., Stagg, Ian and Coulter, Mary (2012). Management. 6th ed. Frenchs Forest: Pearson. Silos, L.R (2003). The power of the leader: mind and meaning in leadership. Philippines: Goodwill Trading Co. Taylor, FW (2007), The principles of scientific management. Filiquarian. Weihrich, Heinz., Cannice, Mark V. and Koontz, Harold (2010). Management: global entrepreneurial perspective. 13th ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill. White, B (2014). “Six important managerial skills for successful leadership”. Available at:< http://www.ezinearticles.com/?six-important-managerial-skills-for-succesful-leadership&id=71553>[Accessed 22 April, 2014] Read More