Documenti di Didattica
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Documenti di Cultura
1 Introduction
2 What Is an Organisation
3 Organisational Goals
10 Understanding Stress
The Individual in Work Roles
12 Process Theories
Implications of Motivation Theory
The Nature and Meaning of Job Satisfaction
WHAT IS AN ORGANISATION?
We shall start with a question:
Which of these would you call an organisation?
Would you describe each of them as an "organisation"? Are a family and a bank
sufficiently similar for each to be called an organisation?
Like many problems of definition, it is, perhaps, easier to say what is not an
organisation, rather than what is.
Fourth point is that organisations have some degree of permanence, in the sense that
they usually have more than a momentary existence or, even, an existence tied to the
achievement of one objective.
Management
The Organisation in its Environment Organisations do not exist in isolation.
They are part of the wider fabric of society in general and as such are influenced by
PEST
consists of the following four categories:
Political
Economic
Social
Technological
One way of illustrating the relationship between organisations and their environment is
to consider the organisation as a system taking inputs from the environment (raw
materials, staff, etc.) and using them to produce outputs in the form of goods and
services which are fed back in some way into the environment.
Political
factors affecting the requirements placed on organisations arising from the
actions of national (and international) governments and governmental agencies,
including legislation, and the general political dimension which issues and activities
may assume;
Economic
factors affecting the financial functioning of the organisation such as the potential for
growth or for retrenchment in the economy at large in relation to the market for the
organisation's products, or the value of money as it impacts on reward systems;
Social
factors affecting the supply of labour, such as demographic changes in terms
of the age profile of the working population, numbers of people in the job market,
etc., and changing cultural norms of behaviour and attitudes in society at large which
influence people's expectations and behaviour at work;
Technological
One way of illustrating the relationship between organisations and their environment is
to consider the organisation as a system taking inputs from the environment (raw
materials, staff, et
ORGANISATIONAL GOALS
"a goal is a future state of affairs which the organisation attempts to realise"
As we noted previously, though, most organisations have several such goals.
Expressing Goals?
Goals are fundamental to activity they provide the focus for action. If they are to
provide that focus, they need to be specific.
They need a clarity which allows people to share understanding and put their
coordinated efforts to a common purpose.
They also need to provide some indication by which those undertaking the activity can
assess whether they are successful.
Most organisations have several "future states of affairs" which they are seeking to
achieve.
These are not necessarily all of the same type.
Mission
An organisation's mission is a generalised statement of its main purposes, often
encompassing the key values which underlie those purposes and the way in
which it seeks to achieve them.
Goals
Goals build on the mission statement and provide the long- term targets for
organisational activities.
They are likely to be specified for each organisational unit and sub-unit: thus for a
manufacturing company, there will be goals for each division research and developme
nt (R&D), production, marketing, personnel, etc. and possibly for each part of, say,
marketing (sales, advertising, etc.).
Objectives
These derive from goals to provide detailed, short-term targets, generally in the
form of guidelines for action in a specified time span.
They are almost always measurable and thus act as both planning aids and the criteria
for performance review.
Societal goals
These are the goals of an organisation as they are perceived by society.
A production organisation's societal goal may be to produce a certain type of goods
cars, beer, etc. A hospital's societal goal would be to provide a range of health services
to the population of a specified geographical area
Output goals
Product goals
These relate to the outputs of the organisation as expressed in the characteristics
System goals
These relate to the functioning of the organisation and are concerned with the
way in which it operates the internal structure, controls, relationships, etc.
Examples of such goals include the reduction of absenteeism or accidents, the
growth or contraction of operations, increasing productivity and/or profitability,
etc.
Derived goals
These are goals which are incidental to the primary purposes of the organisation
and relate to the goals which it may pursue as a result of its position and power,
and its value system.
Many organisations, both public and private, have such goals, either as offshoots of
their promotion and marketing activities (giving them a particular profile or image) or as
altruistic endeavours for example the pursuit of political (but not necessarily party
political) aims or the support of charities, community projects, and arts, sporting and
cultural events.
To provide guidelines for decision-making and the justification for actions taken,
reducing uncertainty in decision-making.
To influence the structure of the organisation and help determine the nature of
the
technology employed.
To give an indication of what the organisation is really like, both for members and
the
organisation's stakeholders.
To act as a basis for the evaluation of change and the development of the
organisation.
difficulties in formulation;
Formulation
Many non- commercial and service organisations have traditionally had considerable
problems with defining goals.
This has much to do with the ethics of the provision of certain services (for example
health) in the past which saw such provision as being the domain of the professional
and his/her judgement as being paramount.
There was, therefore, considerable reluctance to prescribe goals and objectives which
would limit professional autonomy.
In addition, there is a real problem in ascribing quantifiable and measurable statements
to the work of providing particular services for example, exactly how do you quantify
the outputs of a school?
Change
The second problem of goals is that, once set, they may come to be seen as tablets of
stone, containing the final word on the purposes of the organisation.
That cannot be so.
Goals are part and parcel of the planning process and need to be reviewed regularly if
they are to have any on-going meaning.
All organisations have been subject to massive changes in their environment over the
last thirty years in terms of the available resources, the changes in technology,
Goal conflicts
We have noted that organisations are likely to have multiple goals, reflecting the varied
nature of their operations.
Inevitably there will be conflicts between them between the imperatives of, say,
marketing and production departments; or the roles of teaching and research in
universities.
In setting goals, there must be mechanisms to minimise these potential conflicts and
their effects, and the concept of corporate planning and management goes some way to
achieving this.
However, these conflicts exist anyway, whether a system of goal- setting is in place or
not.
MANAGEMENT
There is no single, universally accepted definition of management. Indeed, there are
probably as many views as there are writers.
To quote just a few:"deciding what should be done, and then getting other people to do
it" Rosemary Stewart" to forecast and plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate and
to control" Henri Fayol" the organisation and control of human activity directed towards
specific ends" International Labour Office" sensible working arrangements" Mary Parker
Follett
Whilst these writers all emphasise different elements, there is a degree of commonality
in what they have to say.
We could pick out four processes as being central to management
We can also add two other elements which apply to all these processes that they are
all carried out with the goal of achieving the organisation's purpose, and that they are all
carried out in relation to the human and non-human resources of the organisation.
So we have a composite definition which goes something along the lines that:
Note that we have not mentioned anything about maximising profit! Management is the
means by which the organisation's resources are applied in pursuit of the organisation's
These are the four key management functions and most management texts deal with
them in some systematic way.
Planning
Planning is the process by which the organisation, or any particular part of it,determines
what is to be done. It is the process of systematic thought that precedes action, during
which resources in hand, or those likely to be available, are matched against known or
predicted conditions in order to achieve organisational goals.
It involves a number of related processes:
goal- setting the determination, in the light of forecasts and other imperatives
(including policy), of what the organisation wishes to achieve in the relevant time
span;
This requires information about how the organisation is performing now and what the
future holds.
Organising is the management process which actually arranges for the work to
be
done.
It is concerned with the allocation of resources both staff and others (finance,
materials, time, etc.) and their arrangement into working units and relationships, such
that the agreed plans may be carried out and achieved.
Directing arises out of organising, and is about ensuring that employees are
appropriately engaged in working on activities to meet goals and plans.
This involves motivating and supervising staff towards the concerted efforts needed for
effective performance.
Controlling
Management control is the process of monitoring and regulating performance to ensure
that it conforms to the plans and goals of the organisation.
This is not just some element added on to the end of the management process, but an
integral part of it control starts from the moment plans are put into action.
It involves continuous monitoring and review of the way in which goals are being met
through performance of the designated activities.
Control also involves taking the appropriate corrective action to ensure that what is
actually happening is in accordance with the expectations of the planning process.
Management Roles
One of the classic studies into the work of managers was conducted by Mintzberg in
1980.
His analysis of masses of detailed notes on exactly how managers spent their time
resulted in his developing a typology of management roles which provides a slightly
different overview of what management involves from the functional approach.
Interpersonal
Informational
Decisional
Management Activities
We can summarise the activities as follows and it is easy to see how these link with the
Determining objectives
All managerial work involves identification of goals or objectives deciding what it is
one is seeking to achieve.
For example is the manager's objective to make a team work harder or work smart
er? Without this, work can become unfocused and, whilst a particular course of action
may deal with the immediate problem, it may create others later because it has not
focused on the real purpose.
Allocating resources is about ensuring that the right people are in the right
positions at the right time and with the right materials and equipmen t in order to
achieve the desired ends.
Levels of Management
The various different processes, roles and activities of management apply to
management throughout the organisation.
Whilst there may be different emphases in different parts of the total management
structure, broadly speaking, all managers are involved in carrying out the same
functions.
taking place at the lowest level in the hierarchy and directly responsible for the
operation of discrete tasks and non-managerial personnel.
This level is sometimes referred to as the "technical" level, being concerned primarily
with the undertaking of actual work processes.
Middle management
the "meat in the sandwich" between senior management and first line supervisors, this
level is responsible for the work of managers at a lower level (supervisors or possibly
other middle managers) and/or a range of more senior operational staff such as
specialist technicians and professionals.
In some analyses this level is referred to as the "organisational" level, being
concerned with the organisation and integration of work processes across a broader
range.
which is where responsibility for the entire organisation, or significant large parts of it,
is located.
Such management is also responsible for the middle tier of management.
Management functions
The relative importance of the functions of planning, organising, directing and
controlling does vary between the three levels,
Planning is seen mainly as a function performed by the more senior strata in the
hierarchy.
Senior management is responsible for making overall decisions on goals
and plans for the organisation as a whole.
This level will also need to work closely with middle management in developing
operational plans for the achievement of those goals.
Control tends to be a more constant function across the three levels, with each
level of management needing to monitor and review progress towards goals in
relation to their responsibilities.
Management roles
Minzberg's research indicated that all managers had a similar range of roles,
irrespective of their position in the management hierarchy.
However, he did note that their relative importance varied with position. Indeed, there
would appear to be different emphases on different roles within each of the three
general role areas:
Interpersonal role area, the role of figurehead tends to bemore important at the
senior levels of management, reflecting the greater positional power and weight
often necessary for such duties.
By contrast, the leader role is central to supervisors, reflecting their greater involvement
in ensuring the smooth operation of staff relationships.
Management activities
This view of management provides a rather different insight into the strata
ofmanagement levels.
The decisions made at this level become the events which condition the determination
of objectives at the next level down.
Determining objectives
All managerial work involves identification of goals or objectives deciding what it is one is
seeking to achieve.
For example is the manager's objective to make a team work harder or work smarter?
Levels of Management
The various different processes, roles and activities of management apply to management
throughout the organisation. Whilst there may be different emphases in different parts of the
total management structure, broadly speaking, all managers are involved in carrying out the
same functions.
Most analyses of management structure identify three broad hierarchical levels.
We can consider the differences between the levels under the three elements we have
previously used to discuss the nature of management.
(a)Management functions
The relative importance of the functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling does
vary between the three levels, as illustrated byFigure 1.11.
Planning is seen mainly as a function performed by the more senior strata in the hierarchy.
Senior management is responsible for making overall decisions on goals and plans for the
organisation as a whole. This level will also need to work closely with middle management in
developing operational plans for the achievement of those goals. Whilst all levels are involved
in the determination of goals to some extent, at the lower levels there is less emphasis on
decision-making and planning, with it likely to be carried out within a pre-determined framework.
In respect of the organising function, the allocation of resources is controlled at the highest
levels, again primarily on an organisation-wide basis although there will be considerable
oversight of the organisational arrangements at lower levels. Middle management carries the
detailed responsibility for the planning and organising of work on a broad level allocating
resources and instituting overall structural arrangements and relationships. Again, first line
management tends to work within a framework determined elsewhere and has more limited
scope for organising in respect of resource allocation and operational arrangements. However,
when we consider directing, there is a much greater responsibility for the detailed aspects of
ensuring the appropriate functioning of working arrangements, particularly in respect of staff
relationships and methods of working, at the supervision level. This is the front line of
organising people in gettingthe work done.
Control tends to be a more constant function across the three levels, with each level of
management needing to monitor and review progress towards goals in relation to their
responsibilities.
Figure 1.11: Management Functions at Different
Hierarchical LevelsControlling
Senior Middle First line