Topic 1 What is an organisation?

Types of Organisations

Social organisations eg. Schools, Hospitals, charities

Govt organisations eg. Prisons, schools, hospitals, defence forces
Business organisations eg. Schools, prisons, hospitals, armies, Workers
cooperatives
Sporting organisations eg. Cricket Australia, NRL, AFL

Other ways to classify organisations:

By size (small medium or large)

By Industry (eg telecommunications, mining and finance)
By geographical location (eg local business, Australian / multinational)
Ownership (eg sole trader, company, membership, not for profit, listed
corporation)

No two organisations are ever identical!! (People are different)

Characteristics of an organisation

Purpose, objective, goals

Action within organisations designed to achieve the goals
Structure, rules and boundaries
Selling as much as possible future oriented (want to exist in the future
keep making profit & returns for shareholders)
People
Organisations are independent of the people within them; they go on while
members change. The rules and structures still exist
Is part of an open system

Organisations mediate between the wider society and the individual, and joining
an organisation as an employee exposes the individual to substantial direction
and control. Despite the self-activity of their members, organisations as
corporate bodies do have economic and political powers above and beyond
those of the particular individuals that comprise them ( Thompson and McHugh
2009 p.5)
Informal Collectivity people are familiar with each other, continual
communication. Lack explicit rules and procedures, spontaneous in nature.
Select leaders through more personal means.
Formal organisation set structures that are followed, less spontaneous. They
work within a traditional framework of expectations and laws. Longer lifespan
Fallacies used to understand issues in organisations 1. To blame people 2. To
blame the bureaucracy 3. A thirst for power.
Topic 2 What is management

a manager is someone who coordinates and oversees the work of other

people so that organisational goals can be accomplished.
FIRST LINE MANAGERS lowest level of management, manage the work
of non-managerial employees. ALSO called line managers, team leaders
MIDDLE MANAGERS includes all levels of management between the first
line and top managers. They manage the work of first line managers.
TOP MANAGERS the people responsible for making organisation wide
decisions, and establishing goals and procedures. ALSO called CEO, CFO,
executive, chairman
Management involves coordinating and overseeing the work activities of
others so that their activities are completed effectively and efficiently.
Effectiveness doing the right thing so that organisational goals are attained
Efficiency getting the most output from the least amount of inputs.
MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS Planning (define goals, strategies), organising
(allocating resources to achieve goals), leading (motivating, influencing
subordinates), controlling (monitoring actual with perceived performance.)
MANAGEMENT ROLES

Category

Role

Description

Activity

1. Figurehead

- symbol of legal
authority (acts
as a host)

- signing documents
- attending functions

2. Leader

- motivates employees

- communicates with
subordinates

- establishes & maintains

a
network of contacts
- interacts with other
bizs

- interacts with
outside ppl
- answers letters,
emails
- attends conferences

- seeks & receives info

from
variety of sources to
better
understand the biz & its
environment

- deals with all forms

of
communication &
contacts
- receives all types of
communication

- disseminates (shares)
info with
employees in the biz

- forwards
communication
to other areas of the
biz

- presents outsiders with

info
about the bizs plans,
policies,
results and structure

- attends board
meetings
- complies
newsletters
- conducts media
interviews

Interpersonal

3. Liaison
(manager-tomanager)

4. Monitor

Informational

5. Disseminator

6. Spokesperson

7. Entrepreneur

- scans envrmt for

opportunities
- initiates projects to
improve
performance
- brings about change

- conducts review
sessions
- undertakes
evaluations
- organises research

8. Disturbance
handler

- takes corrective action

inside
and outside biz

- implements
strategies to
resolve conflicts

9. Resource
allocator

- allocates human,
financial,
physical & info.nal
resources

- prepares budgets
- authorises
expenditures

10. Negotiator

- negotiations with other

parties

- negotiates, bargains

Decisional
(Decisionmaking)

Management Skills
1. Technical skills job specific knowledge needed to perform tasks proficiently.
They are generally more important for lower level mangers.
2. Human skills also known as interpersonal skills the ability to work with
other people individually and in a group. Important for managers at all levels.
3. conceptual skills the ability of managers to think and to conceptualise about
abstract and complex situations. More important in top level management
positions.
All managers make decisions, but the amount of time they give to each function
is not necessarily the same. As managers move up the organisation, they do
more planning and less direct supervision.

Scientific approaches to management job design. Introduction of

scientific management lead to massive strikes. one best way of
doing things
Innovations in administrative management bureaucracy. clear lines
of authority/formal rules and procedures/impersonality/well defined
hierarchy/ career advancement based on merit.
Maslows hierarchy of needs we satisfy the most basic needs first
then work our way up.
Henri Fayol came up with POLC.

Behavioural theory

Focus on motivational and behaviour as a mechanism to improve

organisational performance

Hawthorne studies research concluded that social norms were the key
determinants od individual work behaviour.
Topic 3 - the organisational environment
The organisation environment influences the decisions you make. It is also
about the culture within the organisation.

THE EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT is split up into 2 parts the general

environment and the task environment. The task environment is those areas

of the external environment where the organisation is likely to have a greater

deal of influence. Eg customers, suppliers, competitiors. The general
environment is demography, economic cycle etc.
o Demographic factors: ethnic locations, aging of the population, leisure
activities.
o Political and legal forces: Laws are ever-changing, businesses need to
adapt to these regulations. The government will implement new laws
such as workplace
o Global forces: changes in international relationships such as wars.
Businesses need to adapt to this. Eg an airplane flying into a country at
war may need to change locations due to safety reasons.
o Technological developments affect the way that organisations perform
tasks. Eg introduction of computer systems led to phasing out of
typewriters, typists and created new jobs for technicians.
o Sociocultural changes: social structures influencing educational
systems and employment decisions.
o Economic forces: include interest rates, inflation, unemployment and
economic growth.
PESTLE analysis.
o Political o Economic taxes on travel
o Social/demographic o Technological better planes.
o Legal o Environmental
Specific Environment:
o Suppliers individuals and companies that provide the input resource
needed to produce goods or service.
o Distribution organisations that help other organisations sell their
goods or services. These may be transport services, marketing and
advertising, retailers.
o Customers and clients the type of good or service you produce will
impact on the type of relationship you have with your customers.
o Competitors: what your competitiors do, advances they make will have
a direct effect on your company.
o Environmental uncertainty- Funeral companies/insurance
companies/womens fashion/software companies.

Primary Stakeholders
Owners, shareholders & financiers
Boards of directors
Senior managers
Employees
Secondary Stakeholders
Governments and regulators
Media and commentators
Civic institutions
Social pressure groups
Competitors

What is culture shared values, principles, traditions and ways of doing

things that influence the way organisational members act.
o Culture is like an iceberg. Only 10% is above the surface. We only ever
see 10% of an iceberg. Same is true for an organisational culture. What
we see is known as the artefacts of organisational culture.

Customers
Suppliers & other business partners
Local communities
Unions
The natural environment

STRONG CULTURE is cultures in which the key values are intensely held and
widely shared.
Artefacts stories and legends, rituals, organisational language, physical
structures and symbols.
Values eg customer charter, vision, language, attitude.
Beliefs the unwritten rules that everyone in the organisation follows.
CULTURE constrains what managers can and cant do.
Managers need to create an ethical culture in todays world.
Organisational culture can be changed but it takes time cannot be done
overnight.
Types of sub-cultures (Martin & Siel)
Enhancing
Orthogonal
Counter cultural

Topic 4 Creating sustainable organisations

Social responsibility managements social responsibility goes beyond making
profits to include protecting and improving societys welfare.
Companies are greedy in our day and age, movements have been held to try and
control this. Ethics developed.
Companies argue being socially responsible lowers profits, but today if they are
not SR then customer behaviour will make revenues fall.
Media focus on ethics and corporate behaviour to alert consumers of breaches.
Growth in consumer and shareholder activism
Increase in litigation related to corporate social and environmental behaviour
Ecologically sustainable management recognition of the close link between an
organisations decisions and activities and its impact on the natural environment
Ethics can be defined as what is good or right for human beings
Need to be ethical to avoid civil/criminal liability.

Good ethics means good business.

Encourage ethics by ethics training, leading by example, code of ethics,
independent social audits.
Individual Individual choices, professional ethics; what kind of person/ leader
am I?
Organisational Organisational actions, decisions, strategies; culture,
corporate social responsibility
Macro/systemic Economic, political, legal & social systems in which business
operate; environmental, social, political consequences of business activity
Factors that influence ethics
Managers (individuals) family influences, religious influences, personal
standards and needs
Employing organisation polies, code of conduct, culture
External environment laws and regulations, norms of society and ethical
climate of society.
ALL these factors will influence ethical management.
Consequence based frameworks
Utilitarianism: The end goal can justify the means to get there
Ethical egoism: seeking self-interest only
Consequentialist frameworks are typical in business settings
Utilitarianism seeks the greatest good for the greatest amount of people
Nothing in ethics excludes financially sound thinking, and there is nothing about ethics that requires
sacrificing the bottom line. In both the long and the short run, ethical thinking is essential to strategic
planning.

Topic 5 Strategic management and HRM

Strategy Direction in which an organisation intends to move and creation of a
path by which it intends to get there.
Strategic management
The set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long run
performance of an organisation.
A process or approach to addressing the competitive challenges faced by an
organisation.
Strategic management is important because
It can make a difference to how the organisation performs.
A strategy may lead to higher organisational performance
Strategy helps coordinate diverse organisational units, helping them focus
on organisational goals
Strategy development requires an examination of internal organisational
characteristics and external environment changes
It is involved in many of the decisions that managers make.
Strategic Management Process
Step 1 Identify the organisations current mission, goals and strategy
Mission statement the statement of the business purpose
Customers: Who are the organisations customers?
Products or services: What are the organisations major
products/services?
Markets: Where does the organisation compete geographically?
Technology: How technologically current is the organisation?

 Concern for survival growth, and profitability: Is the organisation

committed to growth and financial stability?
Philosophy: What are the organisations basic beliefs, values,
aspirations, and ethical priorities?
Self-concept: What is the organisations major competitive advantage
and core competencies
Concern for public image: How responsive is the organisation to societal
and environmental concerns?
Concern for employees: Does the organisation consider employees a
valuable asset?
Goals the foundation for future planning. What does the organisation hope to
achieve?
Step 2 External Analysis SWOT ANALYSIS identify opportunities and
threats as well as internal strengths and weaknesses.
Step 3 analysing the organisations resources and capabilities. Examine
internal factors of swot. It forces managers to recognise that their
organisations, no matter how successful are constrained by their resources
and capabilities. IT INCLUDES INTANGIBLE ASSETS
Step 4 once SWOT is complete, managers need to formulate and
evaluate strategic alternatives. (LINK TO DIFFERENT STRATEGIES USED
LATER)
Step 5 Implementation if not implemented properly, a business cannot
succeed.
Step 6 Evaluating results.
TYPES OF ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGIES
Organisational strategies include strategies at the corporate level, business level
and functional level.
MANAGERS AT TOP CORPORATE STRATEGY (entire organisation)
MANAGERS IN MIDDLE business level strategy (focuses on strategic business
units)
LOWER LEVEL MANAGERS functional level strategy.
A corporate level strategy seeks to determine what business a company should
be in or wants to be in. There are three main types of corporate strategies
growth, stability and renewal.
A) GROWTH STRATEGY seeks to increase organisations business by expanding
the number of products offered or markets served.
Growth through concentration achieved when an organisation
concentrates on its primary line of business and increases the number of
products offered or markets served in the primary business.
Vertical integration attempt to gain control of inputs or outputs or both.
Horizontal integration a company grows by combining with other
organisations in the same industry. That means combining with
competitors.
Related diversification when a company grows by acquiring firms by
merging with or acquiring firms in different but related industries.
Unrelated diversification when a company grows by merging with or
acquiring firms in different and unrelated industries.
B) STABILITY STRATERGY seeks to maintain the status quo, with an absence of
significant change. Continues to serve the same audience, with the same
products, the firm does not grow but does not fall behind either.
Companies may do this because:

The industry is in a period of upheaval with external factors

drastically changing and making the future uncertain
o If the industry is facing sow or no growth opportunities.
o They feel that their business is adequately meeting their personal
goals, and dont want the hassles of a growing business.
C) RENEWAL STRATERGY managers need to develop strategies that address
organisational weaknesses that are leading to performance declines.
A retrenchment strategy is a short run renewal strategy.
A turnaround strategy is a renewal strategy for situations organisational
problems are serious.
MANAGERS CUT COSTS AND RESTRUCTURE ORGANISATION
o

Business level strategies include

1. Cost leadership strategy low cost leader aggressively searches out
efficiencies in production, marketing and other areas of operation.
2. Differentiation strategy companies offer unique products that are widely
valued by customers.
3. Focus strategy the company pursues a cost or differentiation advantage in a
narrow industry segment.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Growing recognition:
Traditional sources of competitive advantage are eroding
Specific products and technology can be copied by competitors
But a cohesive, skilled workforce and appropriate organisational culture
cannot be easily replicated by competitors
WHY IS HRM IMPORTANT?
Various organisations have concluded that an organisations people are a
significant source of its competitive advantage.
Necessary part of the organising function of management
o Selecting, training, and evaluating the work force
Legal compliance
o Laws governing the employment relationship
Adds value to the firm
o High performance work practices lead to both high individual
and high organisational performance.
WHAT IS HRM The policies, practices and systems that influence employees
behaviour, attitudes and performance. Many refer to HRM as involving people
practices.
Job analysis An assessment that defines a job and the behaviors necessary
to perform the job
Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) Requires conducting interviews,
engaging in direct observation, and collecting the self-reports of employees and
their managers.
Job description A written statement of what the job holder does, how it is
done, and why it is
done.

 Job specification A written statement of the minimum qualifications that a

person must possess to perform a given job successfully.
RECRUITMENT the process of locating, identifying and attracting capable
applicants to an organisation.
Aims of recruitment
Increase the pool of qualified job applicants.
Reduce the number of under or over-qualified job applicants.
Increase the probability that job applicants, once recruited and selected, will
remain with the organisation for a long period of time.
Meet EEO and other legal and social obligations
SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT Internal
Skills inventory (computerised record systems)
Job posting via bulletin boards (including electronic or intranet),
External
Advertising
Employment agencies
Educational institutions
Employee referrals newsletters or personal letters. Unsolicited applications
NEXT STEP IS SELECTION OF employees.
Selection is an exercise in prediction. It seeks to predict which applicants will be
successful if hired.
If a bad choice is made, the cost incurred is retrenchment, and future hiring. If a
good choice is not made, there is a chance of the organisation being subject to
discrimination EEO.
APPLICATIONS, INTERVIEWS, REFERENCE CHECKS, HONESTY TEST, DRUG SAMPLE
TEST, DRUG TEST BACKGROUND CHECKS AND PHYSICAL EXAMS
Training A planned effort by a company to facilitate employees learning of
job related competencies.
Presentation methods Classroom instruction, Audio-visual methods
Group-building methods Adventure learning, Team training
Hands-on methods On-the-job training
Simulations and activities
Case studies
Behaviour modelling
- Mentor training
What does effective training do?
Affective outcomes
Cognitive outcomes
Skill-based outcomes
Results
Return on investment (ROI)
Purposes of training and development
Improve performance
Update employee skills
Solve organisational problems
Orient new employees
Satisfy personal growth needs
Performance management

 Performance management system

Establishing performance standards and appraising employee performance in
order to arrive at objective HR decisions and to provide documentation in
support of those decisions.
Ensuring that employees activities and outputs are congruent with the
organisations goals.
Performance appraisal
Obtaining data on how well an employee is doing his or her job
Performance feedback
Providing data to employees about their performance effectiveness
Performance appraisal methods
Written essays evaluator writes out description of employees strengths and
weaknesses,
- Critical incidents evaluator focuses on those behaviours that separate
effective and ineffective job performance
- Graphic rating scales a form is used, evaluator rates each aspect of the
employee based on criteria given
- behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) rating scale used to rate the
employee ,
- Multi person comparisons compares individual employees with others
- Management By Objectives (MBO) evaluate employees on how well they do
things
- 360 Degree feedback uses feedback form supervisors, co-workers and
employees.
COMPENSATION
Benefit of a fair, effective & appropriate compensation system
Helps attract and retain high-performance employees
Impacts on the strategic performance of the firm
Types of compensation
Base wage or salary
Wage and salary add-ons
Performance related pay
Merit pay
Incentive pay
Profit sharing
Ownership
Skill-based
Group incentives/awards
Todays day, individuals determine career progression (boundary-less career).