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Management

PART I: ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTINUUMS

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PART I: ORGANIZATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONTINUUMS

Theory X-Theory Y

Theories X and Y are salutary and straightforward reminders of the fundamental rules of managing individuals, which, under the pressures of the daily business, are forgotten quickly. Mc Gregor’s ideas imply that there are two essential approaches to managing individuals. A Theory X manager uses an authoritarian approach to management. According to the management style, average people dislike work and will go to any extent to avoid work. As a result, people need to be forced alongside punishment threats to work toward organizational goals. Finally, theory X managers hold it that the average individuals prefer to be ordered around; it is unambitious and wants security above anything. On the other hand, theory Y managers are those who practice a participative style of management. According to the theory, effort in work is natural, like play and work, and individuals will exhibit self-direction and self-control in the pursuit of organizational goals in the absence of punishment threats and external control.

In times of organizational cutbacks, managers will move from the Y approach to the X approach style of management. This is because, in such times, productivity reduces, energy lacks, and attitude towards work also worsens. Therefore, managers need to be result-oriented to meet organizational objectives. In times of high corporate expansion, the continuum shifts from the X to the Y extreme. This is because managers need to get everyone on board, and therefore a participatory management style is ideal. In times of low employee morale, the continuum also shifts from the X to the Y extreme. Employees need to be given a certain level of independence, free of punishment threats to pursue the goals of the organization. Finally, in times of leadership uncertainties, the continuum moves from the Y to the X extreme. This is because employees need to be directed and take responsibility for their actions for results to be yielded.

Power-Authority

Authority is the formal right to make decisions based on formal institutional relationships. It can also be seen as the right of commanding others not to act or act in ways that are deemed by the possessor of authority to advance the objectives of an organization. On the other hand, power refers to the actual ability or potential of an individual to influence the behavior of another or others. In times of organizational cutbacks, the continuum shifts from authority to power. This is because, during such times, the behavior of employees seems to take an adverse turn. Therefore, the best approach is to adopt power in influencing events and the workforce to get things done. Authority is such times may worsen their attitudes and morale towards work. During a phase of organizational expansion, the continuum shifts from power to authority. This is because authority flows from the top to the bottom. Therefore, to fulfill objectives, managers need to get things done through other people by virtue of their rights to make decisions. When there is low morale, the continuum shifts from authority to power. This is because power flows in any direction if the superiors can influence the behavior of the employees; their morale can be boosted. Also, in such times, legitimacy is not important. For example, authority is official, while power needs not to be official. Thus, everyone has power and, therefore, can influence the other. Finally, in times when there are uncertainties in leadership, the continuum shifts from power to authority. In such times, if authority is not adopted, organizational goals will not be met.

Conflict-Cooperation

In an organization, conflict can be described as a state of discord arising from perceived or actual opposition of values, needs, and interests between staff. Conflict often takes several forms, such as inter-group conflicts, intra-group conflicts, and personal conflicts. On the other hand, cooperation implies can be described as a state where organization employees work together to achieve a common objective. This means a healthy environment where employees work side by side to accomplish both organizational and personal goals. In other words, when there is cooperation, employees work with others rather than against each other to ensure optimum productivity. In times of retrenchment, the continuum can shift from cooperation to conflict. This is because, in such times, there are high rates of inefficiencies due to reduced human resources. The most likely conflicts to arise in such a scenario are inter-group and intra-group conflicts. This is mostly due to competition and scarcity of resources. In times of organization expansion, the continuum will shift from conflict to cooperation. This is because, when an organization is growing, people need to work together to ensure that objectives are achieved. For example, organization expansion comes with an increase in the workforce, among other things. Thus, to ensure that the growth is sustained, people have to work toward a common objective. In times of low employee morale, the continuum may shift from cooperation to conflict. This the employees’ behavior is inseparable from the culture that surrounds it. If the culture surrounding them reduces their morale, then there will be conflicts-personal, inter-group, and intra-group. Lastly, in times of leadership uncertainties, the continuum shifts from cooperation to conflict. This is because of the lack of clear direction. This leaves the staff confused about the way to pursue to fulfill the goals of the organization.

Orders-Incentives

In the most basic terms, an order is an authoritative instruction to execute something. An incentive is something which encourages or motivates one to do something. During organizational cutbacks, the orders-incentive continuum shifts from orders to incentives. This is because such times are graced with reduced productivity, low motivation, among other things. Therefore, to turn around such a scenario, managers need to motivate the employees for something to be done. Adopting the issuance of orders approach will worsen the situation as the morale of employees will be reduced. In times of organizational expansion, the continuum will shift from incentives to orders. When an organization expands, the workforce also expands. Therefore, for the organizational objectives to be achieved, clear and authoritative instructions on who should do what, when, and how for activities to be executed diligently. In scenarios where there is low employee morale, the continuum sways from orders to incentives. Employees need to be motivated. The primary incentive flavors can include moral, social, and economic incentives. Usually, a single incentive scheme encompasses all three types. Finally, in times where an organization has leadership uncertainties, the continuum shifts from incentives to orders. What organizations lack in such times is the absence of information regarding how, who, or even why an activity has taken place. In such times, uncertainty will intensify and increase emotions. Orders are, therefore need to ensure that everybody is on board.

Organizational Repetition-Organizational Change

Coalitions and Individuals

Coalitions can be defined as temporary alliances for combined action, while individuals are single beings who are distinct from groups. When an organization is going through a phase of retrenchment, the coalition-individual continuum sways from individuals to coalitions. This is because, in such times, activities are many, but the workforce has shrunk. It is in such times that coalitions are invaluable in advocacy since they establish a structure for both the individuals and the organization to share ownership of similar objectives. Additionally, in such times, coalitions reduce the duplication of resources and efforts. Further, coalitions facilitate the exchange of skills, information, materials, experience, and also, opportunities for collaboration. In times when the organization is expanding, the continuum will again sway from individual to coalition. A coalition in such a scenario will allow both the organization and the individual to network and offer encouragement, peer support, professional recognition, and motivation. In a situation where there is low employee morale, the continuum will shift from individual to coalition. This is because, in coalitions, employees can always encourage each other, share experiences, thereby boosting their morale. Finally, during leadership uncertainties, the continuum will shift from coalition to individual. This is because people become cautious about their attitudes. They are afraid of making decisions or take action since they are not aware of how to move forward or do not think it will make an impact. Consequently, they will resort to individualism as opposed to colluding.

Bounded Rational Decisions-Incremental Decisions

Bounded RationalityRationality refers to the idea that RationalityRationality is limited when an individual makes a decision, by the traceability of the decision problems, the cognitive constraints of the mind, and the time that is available to make the decision. In other words, a bounded rational decision-maker chose an alternative that will solve the problem at hand without focusing much on ensuring that they have taken into account all possibilities. On the other hand, incremental decisions are decisions that are not arrived at through one massive leap toward the search of a remedy to a problem. Instead, an incremental decision is where the process of making decisions is broken down into small steps. Then, the process of moving in between the stages or steps is based on the combination of intuition, experience, guessing and other techniques. In times of organizational markets, the continuum shifts from bounded rational decision to incremental decisions. This is because retrenchment decisions need to take into account all the consequences of an action. Retrenchment decisions are not made when rationality is limited. In times of organizational expansion, the continuum can sway from bounded rational decisions to incremental decisions. The organizational expansion calls for critical planning, or else the organization will fail to meet the set goals as a result of lack of planning. In a scenario where there is low employee morale, the continuum tends to shift from incremental decisions to bounded rational decisions. Lack of morale often pushes employees to act irrationally, thus causing the shift. Finally, in a situation where there is leadership uncertainty, the continuum sways from incremental decisions to a bounded rational decision. Lack of clear leadership results into a lack of direction, which consequently makes employees act in ways that are not rational. In other words, uncertainty makes different people respond differently, yet they are in the same organization.

Closed Organizations-Open Organizations

SOP-Organizational Culture

Standard operating procedures imply documented processes which an organization institutes to ensure that products and services are consistently delivered each time. SOPs are usually used in the demonstration of compliance with the operational or regulatory practices and to document how activities need to executed in an organization. A procedure is not a be-all, end-all remedy since it will not guarantee good results or excellent performance. On the other hand, organizational culture entails behaviors and values which contribute to the distinct psychological and social environment of an organization.

Part II: APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS (FAA)

Scientific management is a management model that synthesizes and analyses the flow of work. Its main goal is to improve economic efficiency, especially the productivity of labor. It was one of the first attempts to incorporate science into the designing of processes to management. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) includes scientific management to increase economic benefits, improve production, and reduce costs. According to Taylor, a manager has to shoulder certain responsibilities and accomplish some objectives to which he or she is not accustomed so as to comprehend the scientific technique and implement it entirely. FAA has to develop a science for every element of the air traffic controllers’ work, which substitutes the ancient rule of the thumb approach. In this regard, a redesign of the selection of air traffic controllers and their work environment is necessary for FAA. Since the job of an air traffic controller entails the relaying of traffic management information for use in the process of decision making, tower staff will work in the Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON) or directly with the Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). Generally, the TRACON staff works through the overlying ARTCC. Finally, the ARTCC staff work in coordination with the Air Traffic Control System Command Center (ATCSCC). The ATCSCC has the final word on all the country’s traffic management programs and is in charge of resolving inter-facility challenges. The hierarchy for other challenges is for every field facility to work through its head office, which ultimately reports to the headquarters. From an incentive point of view, FAA accords adequate incentives. This includes both monetary and non-monetary incentives. For instance, the pay and benefits, and work-life benefits are competitive. The roles of supervisors have also been succinctly stated to avoid confusion. Air traffic control has no room for errors, and as a result, roles have to be outlined.

Scientific management can considerably help in ensuring effective decisions are taken, and FAA management can overcome the pre-existing informal and formal cultural constraints that may oppose the redesign. Scientific management gives tools for workers to improve efficiency and output. The approach is ideal for an air traffic controller because the entails tasks and activities that are repetitive. Therefore, the main essence of the strategy and principles are that the staff need to be selected based on a specific skill set that is related to the job, wages and incentives need to be competitive to encourage the personnel to improve output, FAA leadership has created a standard approach for conducting certain activities, existence of attention to eliminating interruptions, and eradication of the rule of thumb and substituting it with other techniques that are founded on a scientific study of activities.

Effective decisions can be achieved through the ease of control. Managers have reasonable control over the execution of tasks. The staff become specialists in their areas of work as they can do the same activity over and over; this makes it convenient for a manager to have control over his or her team. Inaccuracies are also decreased. Scientific management is based on observation and experiment of context-specific remedies. Thus, with adequate planning as well as improved decision-making, accuracy levels are increased. Autocracy is also decreased as the approach triggers FAA management to adopt positive relationships with the staff. Cooperation among managers and staff improves democracy in the entity hence reducing autocracy by towing the scientific management line. Furthermore, in the contemporary world, and especially the aviation industry, technology is the only tool that is available to the team that assists in making decision.

The adoption of the scientific management approach in the organization will overcome both the pre-existing informal and formal cultural constraints that would hinder the redesign. Formal cultural constraints can arise in the form of unclear hierarchical structures or ineffective operating procedures. The management eliminates such constraints because, for it to be implemented, there needs to be a well-documented standard operating procedure and a clear hierarchy of command. Therefore, change cannot be resisted as the staff will smoothly transition as they specialize in their various duties and responsibilities. Informal cultural constraints can take the form of intra-group or inter-group conflicts. The approach prevents such since the idea behind the theory is founded on teamwork. In an organization where teamwork is vital, resistance to change is highly unlikely.

However, scientific management has its share of controversies over the alleged inhumanity of the approach. It is argued that the technique reduces employees to the level of efficiently operating machines. In fairness, it should be noted that the principles may have been misunderstood. For instance, a few sections of the opponents have been willing to practice one of the important tenets-that pay and benefits of a highly-productive worker needs not to have a limit. Such restrictions characterize the majority of the incentive schemes. The unwillingness may constrain the “revolution in mentality” that the founders of the theory sought. They required that both sides or parties need to move away from the division of surplus as the all essential matter and collectively focus their attention toward the increment of the quantity of surplus.

PART III: APPLICATION OF CONCEPTS

Visible Artefacts for Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan

At Central Michigan University, the artifacts shown in the video include student activity center and the activities conducted in the center, resident halls (hostels), dining locations, Anspach hall, library, science building, education and human service building, college of medicine, book store, and open spaces. In other words, the artifacts highlighted encompass what Central Michigan University has to offer both inside and outside the classroom environment. On the other hand, the artifacts shown in the Eastern Michigan University include the student center which harbors various resources, eating locations, residential halls, library, kitchenettes, recreational equipment and facilities, and college of business.

Emphasis in the Central Michigan Video and Eastern Michigan Video

The Central Michigan video emphasizes various elements. For instance, in the exhibition of dining locations, it can be seen that multiple locations offer multiple types of food. This means that one can choose to indulge in junk food or eat healthy foods. Also, the student center activities depict that the university is keen on allowing students to explore their abilities in the sporting arena. This is shown by the availability of various sporting activities such as swimming, among others. Generally, the primary emphasis of the video is to show how the university provides the best facilities that a student needs to excel both in the academic and also in the sporting arena. The Eastern Michigan University, the video emphasizes its commitment to accommodate a broad range of cultures by promoting diversity. The student center resources mainly highlight this. Additionally, the student center was rated as the best resource center in the country. Further, the video emphasizes the campus commitment to engage with the community through programs such as volunteer programs. Finally, the video has emphasized the university’s excellence as depicted by the various accolades that it has won. Generally, if one intends to join the university, he or she is assured that they have made the right choice to join a university that has a proven success record.

Dimension of Organizational Culture

From a university perspective, organizational culture implies the systematic way students and staff interact and behave among themselves. The culture is collectively made up of norms, values, and habits. The dimension of organizational culture at Central Michigan University is innovation. Students who need opportunities and facilities to create new services or products should consider joining the university. The university does not only encourage innovation but gives students time and space to pursue their endeavors. The approach has resulted in the emergence of exceptional talents in football, innovations in medicine, engineering, and other disciplines.

On the other hand, the dimension of organizational culture at Eastern Michigan University is people-oriented. The university values fairness and supports people’s dignity and rights. The institution accords it’s a range of resources for its students. One key exhibit is the availability of the Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) resource center and office of the multicultural center. Further, from the video, inclusivity, which is tied to a people-oriented culture, is evident from a large number of nationalities and cultures from all over the world who have enrolled at the campus. The “supportive” aspect of the culture is also seen through the participation of 18 Eastern Michigan University teams in Division One. The students are also not charged to watch and support their colleagues.

 

 

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