Management notes - Summary Managing Organisations & People PDF

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CHAPTER 1: MANAGING ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE 1.1   

Why are managers important Organisations needs their managerial skills & abilities in complex & chaotic times Critical to getting things done in organisations Contribute to employee productivity & loyalty  creates organisational value

1.2 Characteristics of an organisation  Organisation: deliberate arrangement of people to accomplish some specific purpose e.g. ANZ O Distinct purpose ( has goals to accomplish), people, deliberate structure (open/flexible, clearly defined O

rules) NOW: flatter, networked structure, no hierarchy, decentralised, open, flexible, responsive to changes e.g. Google, Ikea

1.3 Managers & Non managerial employees  Manager: someone who coordinates & oversees the work of other people so that organisational goals can be accomplished O Top managers ( organisation wide decisions) O Middle managers First line managers: manage non managerial employees – directly involved in the production/creation of products Non managerial employees: work directly on a job with no one reporting to them o

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1.4 Define management, efficiency, effectiveness  Management: coordinating & overseeing the work activities of others so that their activities are completed efficiently & effectively  Efficiency: maximum output from least input (high)  Effectiveness: completing activities so goals are attained (high) 1.5 Functions, roles & skills of managers FUNCTIONS Planning: setting goals, establishing strategies & developing plans Organising: arranging & structuring work

Leading: working with & through people Controlling: monitoring, comparing & correcting work performance

ROLES Interpersonal: involve people, ceremonial/symbolic duties (figurehead, leader & liaison) Informational: collecting, receiving & disseminating info (monitor, disseminator, spokesperson) Decisional: making choices (negotiator, resource allocator, entrepreneur, disturbance handlers)

SKILLS Technical: job specific knowledge & techniques (low level managers) Human/interpersonal: ability to work well with people (equally important) Conceptual: ability to think  needed for effective decision making (top managers) Other: communication, problem solving, collaboration

1.6 Is a manager’s job universal  All managers independently of heir organisational level have to plan, organise, lead & control BUT time given to each function depends on top, middle/first line. Organisational area same functions BUT different role. Organisational type: measuring performance in profit & non-profit organisations both need effective & efficient managers POLC. Organisational size: same function differ in emphasis & degree cross national transferability manager job less universal but diminish with increasingly globalised world.

1.7 Factors reshaping & redefining mangers jobs  Global economic & political uncertainties, changing workplaces, ethical issues , security threats, changing technology  Balancing work & personal life of employees  Importance of customers: high quality service (employees friendly, prompt)  high customer satisfaction  Importance of social media innovation, sustainability 1.8 Why study management  Universality, reality of work, managing yourself, rewards, challenges

CHAPTER 2: EVOLUTION OF MANAGEMENT THEORY 2.1 Examples of early management practices  Studying management is important as it helps us see the origins of today’s management practices & identify what has/has not worked e.g. construction of Egyptian pyramids, Great Wall of China, arsenal of Venice, Industrial Revolution – human labour replaced with machines 2.2 Scientific management  Uses scientific methods to define the one best way for a job to be done  Frederick W Taylor 4 principles of management: o Scientifically select, train & develop workers o o  

Ensure cooperation among workers by offering incentives Allocate work & responsibilities to employees & managers

Gilbreth: designing proper tools & equipment for optimising work performance. USES: hierarchy, chain of command, division of labour, reduce waste Today: analyse basic work tasks, time & motion studies to eliminate wasted motions, ire the best qualified workers for a job & incentive systems based on output

2.3 General administrative theorists within the classical approach  Focuses on what managers do & what constituted as good management practice  Fayol: functions of management were common to all business endeavours but were also distinct from other business functions  14 principles of management  

Weber: bureaucracy: division of labour, clearly defined hierarchy, detailed rules & regulations, impersonal relationships Today: perform functions of management & structure organisations resources effectively & efficiently

2.4 Quantitative approach  Use of quantitative techniques (statistics, optimisation, info models & computer simulations) to improve decision making  Total quality management: continual improvement & responding to customer’s needs & expectations (process focused, accurate measurement, empowerment of employees  Today: allocating resources, improving quality, determining optimum inventory levels 2.5 Development & uses of organisational behaviour approach  

Early OB advocates: people were most important asset of the organisations and should be managed accordingly Hawthorne Studies: dramatically impacted management beliefs about the role of people in organisations leading to a new emphasis on the human behaviour factor in managing

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Human relations movement: satisfied worker will be productive Behavioural science theorists: scientific method for study of OB

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Today: design motivating jobs, teams, open communication

2.6 Systems & contingency theories in the contemporary approach  Systems theory: organisation takes in inputs (resources) from the environment & transforms/processes these resources into outputs that are distributed into the environment o Helps understand management, since managers must ensure that all the interdependent units are working

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together in order to achieve the organisations goals Helps managers realise that decisions & actions taken in 1 organisational area will affect others

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Helps managers realise that organisations are self-contained, but instead rely on their environment for inputs

& as outlets to absorb their outputs Contingency theory: organisations are different, face different situations & require different ways of managing o Stresses no simplistic/universal rules for managers to follow RATHER must look at situation and determine if this is the way my situation is then this is the best way for me to manage

2.7 E.g. of current trends & issues that are influencing management today   

Globalisation Ethics Learning organisations & knowledge management

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Workforce diversity Entrepreneurship Sustainability

CHAPTER 3: DECISION MAKING 3.1 Identify 8 steps in the decision making process 1. 2. 3. 4.

Identifying a problem Identifying decision criteria Allocating weights to the criteria Developing alternatives

5. 6. 7. 8.

Analysing alternatives Selecting an alternative Implementing the alternative Evaluating decision effectiveness

3.2 3 ways managers make decisions  Rational decision making: describes choices that are consistent & value maximising within specified constraints 1. 2.

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Assumption of rationality: problem is clear & unambiguous, single well defined goal is to be achieved, all alternatives & consequences are known, final choice will maximise the pay off Bounded rationality: managers make rational decisions but are bounded (limited) by their ability to process information so satisfice: decision makers accept solutions that are good enough. Escalation of commitment: is when managers increase commitment to a decision even when they have evidence it may have been a wrong decision Intuitive decision making: decisions on the basis of experience, feelings & accumulated judgement

3.3 Explain 2 types of problems & decisions (limited) by their ability to process  Programmed decisions: are repetitive decisions that can be handled by a routine approach & are used when the 

problem being resolved is straight forward, familiar & easily defined (structured) Non programmed decisions: unique decisions that require a custom made solution & are used when the problems are new/unusual (unstructured) & for which information is ambiguous or incomplete

3.4 Contrast the 3 decisions making conditions  Certainty: situation when a manager can make accurate decisions because all outcomes are known  Risk: situation when a manager can estimate the likelihood of certain outcomes  Uncertainty: situation where a manager is not certain about the outcomes & cannot even make reasonable probability estimates. Psychological orientation determines whether:

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Maximax choice: maximising the maximum possible payoff

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Maximin choice: maximising the minimum possible payoff Minimax choice: minimising the maximum regret – amount of money that could have been made if a different decision have been made

3.5 Describe 2 different decision making styles  Linear thinking style: person’s preference for using external data & processing this info through rational, logical thinking  Nonlinear thinking: preference for internal sources of info & processing this info with internal insights, feelings & hunches 3.6 Identify some common decision making errors & biases  Overconfidence, immediate gratification, anchoring, selective perception, confirmation, framing, availability, representation, randomness, sunk costs, self-serving bias, hindsight 3.7    

Describe some effective decision making techniques for today’s world Understand cultural differences in decision making Knowing when it is time to call it quits Using effective decision making process Building an organisation that could spot the unexpected & quickly adapt to the changed environment

CHAPTER 5: INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOUR 5.1 Identify the focus & goals or organisational behaviour FOCUS Individual behaviour: attitudes, personality, perception, learning, motivation Group behaviour: norms, roles, team building & conflict Organisational: structure, culture, HR policies & practices

GOALS Explain Predict Influence

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Define the 6 important employee behaviours that mangers want to explain, predict Employee productivity : measure of efficiency & effectiveness Absenteeism: failure to report to work Turnover: voluntary & involuntary permanent withdrawals from an organisation Organisational citizenship behaviour: discretionary behaviour that is not part of an employee’s formal job requirements but which promotes the effective functioning of an organisation

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Job satisfaction: individuals general attitude towards his/her job

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Workplace behaviour: intentional employee behaviour that is potentially harmful to the org. individuals within the org

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Explain the roles that attitudes play in job performance Cognitive component : beliefs, opinions, knowledge & info held by a person Affective component: emotional/feeling part Behavioural component: intention to behave in a certain way towards someone/thing o Job satisfaction: positively influences productivity, lowers absenteeism levels, lowers turnover rates o Job involvement: degree to which an employee identifies with his/her job, actively participates in it & considers his/her job performance to be important to his/her self-worth o

Organisational commitment: degree to which an employee identifies with a particular org. & its goals & wishes to maintain membership in the org

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Employee engagement: employees are connected to, satisfied with & enthused about their job  lower

absenteeism & turnover Cognitive dissonance theory: incompatibility/inconsistency between attitudes/behaviour, theory argues any form of dissonance is uncomfortable and that individuals will try to reduce dissonance/discomfort

5.4 Describe the various personality theories Myers- Briggs Type Indicator Social interaction: extrovert/introvert Preference for gathering data: sensing/intuitive Preference for decision making: feeling/thinking Style of decision making: perceptive/judgemental

The Big Five Model “degree to which” Extroversion: sociable, talkative, expressive Agreeableness

Additional personality insights

Conscientiousness

Locus of control: external: lives are controlled by outside forces Machiavellianism: seeks to gain & manipulate power Self esteem

Emotional stability Openness to experience

Self-monitoring Risk taking

5.5 Describe perception & factors that influence it  Perception: is how we give meaning to our environment by organising & interpreting sensory impressions  Attribution theory o Distinctiveness: whether an individual displays different behaviours in different situations

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o Consensus: whether others facing a similar situation respond in the same way o Consistency: when a person engages in behaviours regularly & consistently Fundamental attribution error: tendency to underestimate the influence of external factors & overestimate the

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influence of internal factors Self-serving bias: tendency to attribute or own successes to internal factors & to put the blame for personal

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failure on external factors 3 shortcuts used in judging others : assumed similarity, stereotyping, Halo effect

5.6 Discuss learning theories & their relevance in shaping behaviour  Operant conditioning: behaviour is a function of its consequences e.g. reinforcement strengthens behaviour  Social learning: individuals learn by observing what happens to other people & by directly experiencing something e.g. parents, teachers 

Shape behaviour: using positive reinforcement (giving something pleasant), negative reinforcement, punishment, extinction

5.7 Discuss contemporary issues in organisational behaviour  Challenge of managing GenY workers – they bring new attitudes to the workplace 

o ISSUES: appearance, technology, management style Workplace misbehaviour can be dealt with recognising that it exists & by paying attention to employee attitudes through surveys about job satisfaction & dissatisfaction

CHAPTER 6: COMMUNICATION 6.1    

Define the nature & function of communication Communication: transfer & understanding of meaning: accept our views & agree Interpersonal communication: between 2 or more people Organisational communication: all the patterns, networks & systems of communication within an organisation Functions

1. 2.

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Controlling employee behaviour Providing a release for emotional expression of feelings & fulfilment of social needs

Providing information Motivating employees

6.2 Identify the 7 components of the communication process  Sender, message, encoding, medium, decoding, receiver, feedback, noise 6.3 Compare & contrast methods of interpersonal communication

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High feedback potential/low High space constraint/low High complexity capacity/low High cost/low High breadth potential/low High personal warmth/low

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High confidentiality/low High formality/low High encoding ease/low High scanability/low High time decoding ease/low

6.4 Identify barriers to effective interpersonal communication & describe how to overcome them  Barriers: filtering, emotions information overload, offensiveness, defensiveness, language, national culture  Overcome through: use feedback, simplifying language, listening actively, constraining emotions, watching for non-verbal cues 6.5    

Explain how communication can flow most effectively in organisations Formal communication: is communication that follows the official chain of command Informal communication: is not defined by the organisation’s structured hierarchy Communication can flow: downward, upward laterally, diagonally 3 communication networks o Chain: communication flows according to the formal chain of command o Wheel: communication flows between clearly identifiable & strong leaders & others in a work team o

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Grapevine: informal organisational communication network  can minimise the negative consequences of rumours by communicating openly, fully & honestly Workplace design: also influences organisational communication. It should support 4 types of employee work o Focused work: enclosed & barriers o

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All channel: communication flows freely among all members of a work team

Collaboration, learning &socialisation: open workplace

Describe how information technology affects managerial communication Improves manager’s ability to monitor performance Gives employees more complete info with which to make faster decisions Provided employees more opportunities to collaborate & share info Made possible for people to be fully accessible, anytime anywhere

6.7 Discuss contemporary issues in communication  

Legal & security issues Ethical communication clear guidelines & answering questions

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Lack of personal interaction Potential for cyberbullying

CHAPTER 7: TEAMS 7.1 Define the term group & describe the stages of group development  Group: 2 or more interacting interdependent individuals who come together to achieve specific goals o Formal groups: work groups that are defined by the organisation’s structure & have designated work o 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

assignments & specific tasks directed at accomplishing organisational goals Informal groups: social groups (from friendship/common interests)

Forming: define group’s purpose, structure & leadership Storming: intragroup conflict over who will control the group & what the group will be doing Norming: close relationships & cohesiveness develop as norms are determined Performing: group members begin to work on the group’s task Adjourning: group prepares to disband

7.2 Discuss the main components that determine group performance & satisfaction  External conditions: availability of resources, organisational goals  Group member resources: knowledge, skills, abilities, personality traits can influence what members can do & how effectively they will perform in a group   

Group structure: group roles, group norms, group conformity (groupthink), status systems ( significant motivator with individual behaviour) , group size, group cohesiveness Group processes: group decision making, conflict management: task, process, relationship Group tasks: effective communication & controlled conflict = high group performance when tasks are complex & interdependent

7.3 Differentiate between work groups & work teams, & describe 4 common types of work teams  Work groups: interact primarily to share info & make decisions to help each member do his/her job more efficiently & effectively  Work teams: groups whose members work intensely on a specific common goal using their positive energy, individual & mutual accountability & complementary skills o o

Problem solving team: focused on improving work activities or solving specific problems Self managed work team responsible for a complete work process/segment & manages itself

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Cross functional team: composed of individuals from various specialities Virtual ...