FACULTY OF BUSINESS DEPARTMENT OF

MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING

MGMT 155 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF MANAGEMENT - 3 credits

COURSE DESCRIPTION
An introduction to the concepts of effective management in organizational settings
from individual and macro- systems perspectives. Primary emphasis includes the
organizational process for effectiveness (Planning, Organizing, Leading/Directing and
Controlling the nature of individual and group behaviour and the role of management
in facilitating a naturally satisfying fit between employee and organizational
requirements.
COURSEOBJECTIVES:
The course is designed to achieve the following objectives:
1. Define what management is.
2. Discuss challenges faced by managers in the operations of their organizations.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature and functions of managerial work.
4. Show analytical decision making skills that leads to organizational success.
5. Apply Christian principles to managerial tasks and functions.
COURSE CONTENT:
Defining the managers terrain:
1. Introduction to management and the environment
- Management history
- Managers and their environment
- Social responsibility and managerial ethics
2. Managing work and organizations:
- Managers as decision makers
- Foundations of planning
- Strategic planning
- Organizing
3. Managing people in organizations:
- Motivation
- Leading people in organizations
- coordination
- Communication and negotiation
- controlling
- Change and development
- Human resource management
- Managing work groups
4. Managing production and operations:
- Production and operations management
- Production and inventory planning control

- Managing information for decision making

5. Special management topics:
- Entrepreneurship
- Careers in management
ASSIGNMENTS: Reading assignment(article)
EXAMINATION AND GRADING SCHEME:
1. There will be a comprehensive final examination
60%
2. Assignments
10%
3. Quizzes and tests
10%
4. Mid- session examinations
20%
Total
100%
The grading scale is as follows:
A
90 100
AB
70 74
B+
B65 - 69
C+
C
59 69
D
References:

80
75
60
45

89
79
64
49

0 - 45

1. Stephene P. Robbins;Coultler M. (2013) Management: Pearson International;

11th Edition
2. Waldt G. Vander, Du Toit D.F.P.; Managing for Excellence in the public sector:
Creda communication, South Africa;
3. Stonner A.F. Freeman R., Gilbert J. R. (2005) Management: Pearson Publishers
India.
4. Stoner, James A.F; Edwards A.; & Gilbert, Daniel R. Management: PreticeHall
International, 6th Ed. 2001.
5. Gerald Cole (2004) Management Theory and Practices: Book Power
Publishers; 6th edition.
6. Pettinger R.; (2002) Introduction to Management: Palgrave Publishers Ltd.
New York.
7. Internet

INTRODUCTIONTOMANAGEMENT
The position of a manager is one of the most sought after in todays business
environment. Why? Because a manager is a man in charge and all of us want to
be in a position of authority. The manager is entrusted with making decisions
that ensure the continued survival of the organization. Yet as a manager when

the organization fails to meet its standards, it goes without a say that it is
typically the managers head that is put on the block.
DEFINITION:
If we are to define management, you will realize that there are many definitions
of management as are the books on the subject. The context of the definition is
undertaken from which the functions take place.
For example, an
organisation is a unit within which managers undertake their activities,
is a structured group of people brought together for a specific purpose
to achieve certain objective(s).
Some of the definitions may be as follows:
-

Management is an art of doing work through others

It may refer to the process of achieving desired results through efficient
utilisation of human and material resources.
Some writers define management as knowing exactly what you want to do,
and then seeing that the people do it in the best and cheapest way.
According to Henry Fayol, to manage is to forecast and plan, to organize, to
command, to co-ordinate and to control.
The systems theory considers management as the process of utilising
resources from the environment to achieve organizational goals.
Management is thus the process of planning, organizing, leading and
controlling an organizations human financial, physical and information
resources to achieve

WHAT IS MANAGEMENT?
It is a process that involves coordinating and overseeing the activities of
others so that the activities of the organization are completed efficiently,
and effectively.
- Efficiencyrefers to getting the most output from the least amount of inputs.
This is because managers deals with scarce inputs, and resources. It is often
referred as doing things right.Eg. Reducing inventory levels or efficient
manufacturing techniques.
- Efficiency (means) Resource usage, and low waste. For example, a situation
when outputs measure up to inputs.
-

Effectiveness is doing the things right ie completing activities so that

organizational goals are attained.
For example, meeting customers
demands, executing world class manufacturing strategies or making employ
jobs easier and safer. Ends of getting things done.

Effectiveness (ends) Goal attainment, High attainment. Ie choosing the right goals,
or doing the right things. Eg. Producing goods that have no market is ineffective.

Thus effectiveness must come before efficiency, for efficiency without the right goals
will not serve any purpose.
Peter Drucker identifies effectiveness as the key to managerial success.
Management strives for low resource waste, which means high efficiency, high goal
attainment ie high effectiveness.

The management guroos like Peter Drucker believes that the work of management is
to make people productive. In other words, to regain the competitive edge
as an organization, society must have managerial competence.
Also, note that management, its competence, its integrity and its performance are
important elements in the success of every entity be it current or in the future.
Good management also involves treating people decently and asking them
to share and produce things that are meaningful. Management involves
shaping values and reinforcing evangelism in the organization.
A good manager is one who has the ability to inspire people, make people
productive. It requires techniques, knowledge, and understanding of every single
activity that takes place in the environment in which he/she is operating from.
Why study management?
reasons:

Learning about management is important for two

a. The society in which we live in depends on specialized institutions and

organization to provide the goods and services we desire. These organizations
are guided by the decisions of one or more individuals designated as managers.
Eg allocating resources to various and competing ends. Managers have
authority to produce safe or unsafe products, they can build or destroy
cities, they can clean up or pollute the environment. Not only that, but
they also influence the conditions under which we are provided jobs,
incomes, life styles, the products that we purchase, the health care,
the knowledge, etc. in-fact it is difficulty to find any one who is not
affected by the decisions of a manager.
b. Some people who are not trained as managers, in most cases find themselves in
managerial positions. Eg even if you train as an accountant, finance major,
doctor, etc, you may find yourself in a managerial position.
In addition to this, the world today has become a global village, we are all expected
to cope with environmental changes and properly manage the workforce challenges.
Hence these challenges may require well educated, knowledgeable and hard working
individuals to make decisions.

WHO ARE MANAGERS?

It is someone who coordinates and oversees the goals of other people so that
organizational goals can be accomplished.
- The job of a manager is not about personal achievement; instead, it is
helping others do their work, e.g coordinating, supervising, etc.
- It could involve coordinating work activities of a team of people from different
departments or even outside the organization.
- Traditionally, managers are placed in different categories. They are classified
as; first line, middle or top level.
First line managers manage the work of non-managerial employees who typically
are involved with producing the organizations products or serving customers, eg.
Supervisors, shift managers, departmental heads or office managers.
Middle managers do manage the work of 1st line managers and could have titles
like; Regional Manager, Project manager, Division manager, etc.
Top
managers are responsible for crafting the organizations decisions, and
establishing the plans and goals that affect the entire organization. Their titles are
such as; Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President, or Chief
Executive Officer.
WHATDOMANAGERSDO?
There are four main functions of managers:
-

Planning, ie defining goals, establishing strategies for achieving the goals

and developing plans to integrate and coordinate activities. In other words,
managers think through their goals and actions in advance, that their actions
are based on some method, plan or logic, rather than on hunch. Planning is
the basis by which the organization obtains and commits the resources
required to attain its objectives. Members of the organization carry on
activities consistent with the chosen objectives and procedures. Progress
towards the objectives is monitored and measured so that corrective action
can be taken where such progress is unsatisfactory.
Organizing, involves arranging and structuring work to accomplish
organizational goals, - It entails setting or designing the structure that suits
the organisation in terms of its resources and objectives.
Note that organizing follows after planning because management cannot
organise without any idea as to the purpose of such an exercise. Ie. Tasks
and positions are allocated after an organization has established its direction.
Leading: involves working with and through people to accomplish
organizational goals. The leadership function is distinct from planning and
organising in that it involves dealing with people. Note that managers are

only given authority and responsibility as well as confirmation of their levels

n the company through the organizing function. Therefore, they cannot
effectively lead without knowing; who to lead, where you belong in terms of
the various departments of the organization. How much authority is
bestowed upon you and who you report to in the organizational hierarchy.
Controlling: involves monitoring, comparing and correcting work force
performances.It is the ultimate management function and it evaluates the
efficiency and effectiveness of the other management function.
It is
concerned about ensuring that the actions of the other members move the
organisation towards its stated goals.
This function entails establishing
standards of performance and how it will be measured, measuring current
performance, comparing actual with standard performance, and taking
corrective action where deviations from stated goals are detected.

Note that managers have specific ways of doing business. (if you do not have a
specific definition, any road could take you anywhere.)
MANAGERIALROLES:
Refers to, specific actions, or behaviours expected of a manager.People play different
roles at different places eg. student, teacher, accountant, mother, father, role, etc.
There are three categories of roles:
1. Interpersonalrole: involves people and other duties that are ceremonial and
symbolic in nature. Eg; figurehead as a figure, the manager performs certain
ceremonial roles which are of a legal nature. Weddings, cutting ceremonies as
well as taking customers to lunch.
Leader, managers are accountable for the
actions of their subordinates as well as their own. They need to show
subordinates how to perform under pressure, what hours they should work,
promoting, etc. Liaison. In this role managers must learn to deal with everyone
both within and outside the organization who can help them achieve the goals.
Ie this role necessitates establishing anetwork of contacts and creating
obligations among the people with whom the manager interacts. In this
instance, the manager also acts as a contact person and his activities include
those of writing correspondence, replying to customer enquiries.
2. Informationalroles:
involves collecting, receiving and disseminating
information eg. Monitoring: Managers must constantly and actively seeking
for information from both inside and outside the organisation, that may be
useful to the organisation. They also ask subordinates for information where the
subordinates are more informed. Where possible they obtain information from
unsolicited sources. It is because of this role thatmanager are considered to be
the most informed people within organizations. Disseminator: in this role the
manager is responsible for distributing important information to subordinates.
The manager has to make sure that subordinates get all the information

possible to ensure that they carry out their duties efficiently and effectively.
Spokesperson: Managers are responsible for transforming information to the
outside world. Ie he becomes the organizations representative in the eyes of
the outside world.
3. Decisionalroles: involves making decisions or choices. The following are the
four decisional roles: - entrepreneurship; managers try to improve the
performance of their sub-units as if they are the actual entrepreneurs. Eg.
Situations when the manager makes decisions that will maximise shareholders
wealth and add value to the organisation. Ie managers have to act in the best
interests of the providers of capital. Disturbancehandler; in this role the
manager is expected to take care of sticky situations. Ie coming up with
solutions to difficult situations. This role requires both analytical and conceptual
skills. Resourceallocator; It is a role that is concerned with the allocation of
resources among the organizational members. Negotiator; Managers spend a
lot of Their time kbargaining for a better deal for their sub units or for the
organisation as a whole. Eg. Bargaining with workers for salary increases, or
with suppliers for cheaper materials, etc. This skill requires the application of
various managerial skills such as interpersonal, diagnostic, technical, etc.
In these roles managers do both reflecting (thinking) and action (doing).
Note that, these roles are performed in every organization and thus to perform these
roles may require certain skills.
MANAGERIALSKILLS
These can be grouped as;
1. Technicalskills; these are necessary to accomplish specialised activities. They
incorporate the ability to use procedures, techniques and knowledge of a
specialised field. First line managers have to possess technical skills as they
are responsible for the day to day running of the organization. It requires
knowledge of procedures, techniques and skills in their specific areas of
responsibility.
2. Interpersonalskills: Can also be called human skills. 1stline managers are
expected to have the ability to work with, understand and motivate other
people. Interpersonal skills could be linked to Henry Mintzbergs managerial
roles
3. Conceptualskills: It is the ability to co-ordinate and integrate all of the
organisations interests and activities. It entails the ability to see the
organization as a whole, understanding how its components parts inter relate
and anticipate how a change in one affect the whole. Those with high levels
conceptual skills have the mental capacity of understanding various cause and
effect relationships in the organization and to view the organization in a

holistic manner. Conceptual skills are especially important at the higher levels
of management.
4. Diagnosticskills: This involves problem solving. Diagnosing problems from
their symptoms. Eg. Causes of high turnover. Diagnostic skills are important at
all levels but especially at the operational and tactical levels.
5. Analytical skills.These complement diagnostic skills. They entail the ability to
identify the key variables in a particular situation, see how they interrelate and
decide which ones should receive the most attention. They enable the manager
to determine the best possible strategies and select the most appropriate one
for a particular situation.
There are two main
pastexperience.

sources

of

managerial

skills,

namely,

education

and

Education: Can still be updated even after formal education through seminars,
symposia, conferences and other media such as the internet.
Experience: Managerial skills must be learnt through direct practical experience. For
instance, trainee managers from colleges and universities are developed through
management development programmes. The programmes incorporate various hands
on tasks and work related activities.
Most effective managers learn their skills through a combination of education and
experience.
In summary, the work of management involves three interrelated tasks;
-

Managing work and organizations

Managing people
Managing production and operations.

The process of management requires knowledge of a modern manger because the

tasks involve planning, organizing, leading and controlling. While doing these tasks,
the manager needs to use certain approaches like the classical knowledge,
behavioural knowledge and management science knowledge in order to be successful.

THEEVOLUTIONOFMANAGEMENT
Management like any other subject has benefited immensely from practising
managers and academics. The proponents of management theories have contributed
towards theories in the subject which have had a bearing on the predictability of the
actions of management.
THECLASSICALMANAGEMENTTHEORIES
These were the first studies of management which emphasized rationality and making
both organizations and workers as efficient as possible. An immediate characteristic
of these is that they were advocated by practising managers who wrote books and
other management articles based on their managerial experiences. The classical
theories are also characterised by the fact that they were developed during the times
of mass production and the great revolution. During this period, the managers
immediate worry was productivity and the only aspect of the workers interests that
was addressed was one of their remuneration. Most classical theorists believed
that workers were primarily motivated by economic gain. This assumption
about man came to be known as theeconomicmanconcept
or
therationaleconomicmanconcept.
The classical theories can be summarized into three categories as follows:
1. TheScientificManagementTheory: pioneered by Frederick Winslow Taylor and
it sought to scientifically determine the best methods of performing a task
and for selecting training and motivating workers. He believed in the
scientific determination of the best man machine combination. There are four
main contributions from Taylors guidelines:
- The development of a true science of management so that best methods for
performing each task could be determined.
- The selection of workers on a scientific basis, so that each would be given
responsibility for the task for which he is best suited.
- The scientific education and development of the worker.
- Intimate, friendly co-operation between management and labour.
Note that the success of these principles required a complete mental revolution on the
part of management and labour. Iemanagement and labour had a common

interest namely increased productivity.

That means,scientific management
concentrated on mass production through the division of labour.
The
scientific management has also contributed to the rational solving of
problems and the professionalization of management. Eg the job design and
restructuring of jobs still in use today.
The major weakness was the inherent assumption about mans behaviour the
rational economic man concept where the human desire for job satisfaction
through responsibility and social needs were disregarded, resulting in
frustration. The emphasis on productivity led to the exploitation of workers,
leading to suspicion and mistrust that soured relations between
management and workers. The division of labour also tended to make work
monotonous and thus contributed towards stress and disgruntlement among workers.
2. TheadministrativemanagementschoolbyHenryFayol:
The major thrust was on the administrative side of management. He drew
distinctions between the various business operations and maintained that, with
scientific forecasting and proper methods of management, satisfactory results
were inevitable.His main concern was in dividing the organization into functions
like;
- Technical - for production and manufacturing
- Commercial for buying raw materials and selling products
- Financial for acquiring and using capital
- Security for protecting employees and property
- Accounting for record keeping
- Management for administration
When you look at the above divisions they resulted into the managerial functions of
planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In other words, he is the father of the
principles of management. They are fourteen principles of management today which
every student must know. (mnemonic ADDEC SORIE USSU)ie Authority,
Discipline, Division of labour, Equity, Centralization, Scalar chain, Order,
Remuneration, Initiative, Esprite De Corps, Unity of command, Subordination,
Stability of employees, and Unity of direction.
3. The bureaucratic school: by Max weber; he believed that any goal oriented
organization consisted of thousands of individuals and as such there was need
to carefully regulate and control their activities.
His emphasis entailed the
following:
- Strictadherencetothehierarchyandformalcommunicationlines.
- Strict defined regulations or a consistent set of abstract rules.
- Rationally set out objectives and activities with a clearly set out division of
labour and responsibility.
- Technical competence and merit based performance evaluation.

Making activities and procedures more predictable and standardized to make

for easier control and uniformity of performance.
Impersonal conduct of the business.
Ie management should maintain
appropriate social distance with their subordinates.

Contributionsofthebureaucraticschool: it emphasized on the division of labour,

reliance on rules, a hierarchy of authority and employment based on technical
competence which may improve efficiency. In addition, it laid foundation for research
in the management discipline. By helping isolate areas of practical concern, the
classical organizational theory was found to be easier to apply by practising
managers.
Weaknesses: The major weaknesses were in the lack of innovation and excessive
reliance on formal, impersonal channels which tended to reduce efficiency in decision
making.

THE BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES TO MANAGEMENT:

This school was pioneered by a group of scholars trained in psychology and other
social science disciplines who felt that the classical approaches did not yield efficiency
and harmony at the work place. Their main focus was on the behaviour of employees.
It has two main branches which are;
-

The human relations movement

The behavioural science approach

The human relations movement: by Elton Mayo:

This movement arose out of the need to discover the social and psychological factors
that would create effective human relations. This movement concluded that a
complex chain of attitudes had influence on the productivity variations. For instance,
to be accepted by the group, workers had to produce at the acceptable level. Further,
workers would work harder if they were given special attention and when
management were concerned about their welfare. In addition, workgroups have
influence on productivity.
Mayo believed in the socialman concept, ie man seem to be motivated by social
needs and has a desire for on the job relationships. Therefore, mayos major
contribution highlighted that production was not just an engineering problem but was
also a social problem. Further, this movement, placed greater emphasis on
management training in human relations skills as opposed to technical skills.
The behavioural science approach:

These believed in the self actualizationmanconcept which explains the human

motivation. They identified a hierarchy of needs which motivate man to exert effort
towards achieving organizational goals. These needs range from physiological to self actualization needs, although some proponents argue that not everyone goes from
one need level to another. This is true because in some instances, employees may be
motivated by nothing else but egoistic needs and vice versa. For instance, a job
offering satisfaction even if security needs may be threatening.
THE QUANTITATIVE SCHOOL: It dealt with operations research and management
science;
k2This approach concentrated on the development of solutions to complex problems.
It was based on the concept of mathematical modelling.
Whatis a model?
It is a theoretical representation of a real life situation, or a real life problem. It
shows the factors giving rise to the problem and their interrelationship. Various
alternative solutions to a problem are simulated and computers are used to determine
the best solutions. This school placed emphasis on the development of management
information systems which are computer information networks for providing
information for effective managerial decisions making and planning.
The major contribution of the quantitative school has been on the use of computers to
solve complex problems using modelling a simulation techniques. Its use are mainly
in the areas of planning and controlling and other management applications, like the
cash flow analysis, budgeting and rational problem solving. Stock control, especially
the maintenance of optimum stock levels has also benefited from this approach.
The main limitations of this school are that
-

There is too much emphasis on complicated mathematical formulae which

may not be fully comprehended.
It also tends to disregard psychological and behavioural components of
business problems.
There is also limited involvement in actual practical problems. Meaning that
they are too removed from the battle field to make any worthwhile
recommendations. Ie they rely on the accuracy of assumptions. This means
inaccurate assumption may invalidate their effectiveness

THECONTEMPORARYAPPROACH
Under this approach we have the Systems Approach which offers more insights into
management. It views the management process as a system.
The systems approach to management:
This is away of thinking about management problems. It views organization as a
group of interrelated parts with a single purpose. Actions of one part influences the
others, managers cannot deal separately with individual parts.
A system, is a set of interrelated and interdependent parts arranged in a manner
that produces a unified whole. The organization is viewed as a system consisting of
inputs from the environment in the form of material, and financial inputs. For instance:
THESYSTEMSVIEWOFMANAGEMENT
INPUTS FROM THE
ENVIRONMENT
-Financial resources
- Physical resources
- Human resources
Information
resources

TRANSFORMATION
OR PROCESSING OF
INPUTS
Manufacturing systems
like; technology and
other expertise.

OUTPUTS TO THE
ENVIRONMENT.
Products, services, Job
opportunities, Wealth,
profits,
and
information.

The
management
process:
Planning
Organizing
Leading
Controlling
This shows that, the activities of each of the components of a system (ie subsystems),
has an effect on the activities of the other components. Managers therefore have to
view the organization as an open systemie a system that interacts with the
environment and have to communicate with other employees, departments as well as
representatives of other organizations.
An organization is contrasted with a closed system;, which refers to a system that is
closed from the environment or does not interact with the environment.
The other important concept evolving from systems theory is synergy, which takes
place when the combined output of the sub units working for a common purpose is
greater than the sum total of the individual component parts.
Major contribution of the systems approach:

Managers coordinate work activities in various parts of the organization.

They ensure that all these parts are working together to achieve the
organizations goals.
It ensures that no matter how productive the production department may be,
the marketing department must anticipate changes in the customers tastes,
and work with the product development department in creating products and
services that customers want, otherwise the entire organization may suffer.
It recognizes that organizations are not self - contained. They rely on their
environment for the essential inputs as outlets to absorb their outputs.
It is also a basis for conceptual thinking for general managers who need to
have an overview of organizational objectives.
Note that, this approach does not lean in favour of any particular early
schools of management thought but may be incorporated into all other
schools.Knowledge of this systems approach equips the manager
with a unique skill to understand how a given variable is composed
and hence it gives rise to a holistic view of the organization.

The weakness is that it may not offer conclusive insights into the best managerial
practice but generalizes because it is an evolving field of study. It seems to be
generalizing management practices owing to its failure to prescribe clear guidelines or
solutions on managerial practice.
THE CONTINGENCY APPROACH:can also be called the situation approach.
It is an approach that realizes that there is no one best method to management.
Managers may manage according to the situation at hand. It has some similarities
with the systems approach in that it also focuses on the relationship between
subsystems and on identifying factors that are crucial to a particular task. In this
approach, universal solutions and principles cannot be applied to social systems such
as organisations, hence the best solution depends on the situation. Ie management
has to look at each situation on its own merits rather than offer blanket solutions.
Some contingency variables are such as;
-

The organizations size. Ie as the size of the organization increased, so do

the problems of coordination.
Routines of tasktechnology may require structures, leadership styles and
control systems that differ from those required by customized or non routine technologies.
Environmental uncertainty; ie changes in the environment influences the
management process. For example, what works best in a stable and
predictable environment may be totally inappropriate in a rapidly changing
and unpredictable environment.

Individual differences, ie all people difference in terms of desires for growth,

autonomy, tolerance of ambiguity and expectations

Main contribution:
- It is viewed as the leading branch in management thought, meaning that it entails
elements of all the other schools and the choice of a technique is based on the best
available option.
- It prepares managers for the unanticipated problems relating to the application of
other management techniques.
- It also has a pragmatic bias.
- It has found widespread use in strategic planning where management have no
information about the future and have to rely on assumptions.
- In making assumptions, management first have to identify the situational variables
influencing a particular problem or opportunity.

SUMMARYOFSCHOOLOFMANAGERIALTHOUGHT
Classical Management Behavioural
Theory
Management
- Scientific
Theory
management
- Human
- Bureaucratic
relations
Management
movement
- Administrativ
- The
e
behavioura
management
l science
school
The current concerns
Current concerns
is for efficiency and
for organizational

Quantitative
management theory
- Quantitative
management
theory
- Operations
management
- Management
information
systems
Current concern for
management science

productivity

behaviour

models

The systems
theory
Contingency
Theory
Leads to
Effective
Management

THEORGANIZATIONALCULTUREANDENVIRONMENT
Organizationalculturereferstothesharedvalues,principles,
traditionsandwaysofdoingthingsthatinfluencethewaytheorganizationmembersdothings
.
Thesharedvaluesinmostorganizationsrevolveovertime.
Thedefinitionofcultureimpliesthreethings:
1. Perception;
thatis
somethingthatcannotbetouched
or
seenbutitisperceivedbasedontheexperienceonehaswiththeorganization.
2. Descriptive: it is based on how members perceive the culture and
not with whether they like it or not.
3. Shared: it is a shared aspect of culture even though individuals
may have different organizational levels.
According to Coutler M. (2009:62), there are seven dimensions of culture and each of
these dimensions ranges from law to high;
1. Stability: ie the degreeto which the organizations decisions and actions
emphasize the maintenance of the status quo. Ie culture must be stable.
2. Aggressiveness:
The degree to which employees are aggressive and
competes rather than cooperative. Ie workers must be competitive enough if
they are not then must leave the organization.

3. Team work: The degree to which work is organized around teams rather than
individualsIe the organization must be perceived as our and not as
myoryour..
4. People orientation: ie how management decisions take into account the
effects on people in the organization. Ie valuing the employees, because they
are the life blood of the organization.
5. Outcome orientation: This is when management focuses on outcomes rather
than on how these outcomes are achieved. Ie what are the end results? Eg
effectiveness and efficiency.
6. Attention to detail:The degree to which employees are expected to exhibit
precision, analysis and attention to detail. For-instance; how careful is the
worker in his performance or job.
7. Innovation and risk taking: the degree to which employees are encouraged
to be innovative and to take risk. This shows that most organizations prefer
people who are creative and risk avers.
Note, that strong cultures are those organizations whose key values influence and
are deeply held and widely shared. They have greater influence on employees.
Eg. Seventh - Day Adventist schools and the Catholic schools.
Characteristicsofstrongcultures:
-

Values are shared

Culture conveys consistent messages about what is important
Most employees can tell stories about company history/heroes
There are strong connections between shared values and behaviours.

Characteristicsofweakcultures:
-

Values are limited to a few people. Usually the top management.

Culture sends contradictory messages about what is important.
Employees have very little knowledge of the company history/heroes.
Employees have little identification with culture
There is little connection between shared values and behaviour.

The more employees accept the organizations key values, the greater is their
commitment to those values, the stronger the culture. Also, note that the stronger
the culture is, the more it affects the way managers plan, organize, lead, and control.
Advantagesofstrongcultures:
-

Strong cultures have more loyal employees

It is associated with high organizational performance.
When values are clear and widely accepted, employees know what they are
supposed to do and what is expected of them. Thus act quickly to solve
problems.

The main disadvantage is that it prevents employees from trying other approaches
especially when conditions are rapidly changing.
Wheredoesculturecomefrom?
1.

Vision of the founders of the organization. However, note that company

founders are not constrained by previous customs/approaches but they
establish the early culture by simply articulating an image of what they want.
2. Certain organizational practices do help maintain it. For example, during job
selection mangers select candidates by assessing how well the individual can fit
into the organization.
3. Actions of top management; these they set the tone of the organization and
eventually that becomes the culture.
4. Socialization; ie the process of helping new employees learn the organizations
way of doing things. Eg. Orientation. The orientation stage is very important
because it reveals whether you are organized or not.
Note, that employees learn the culture through stories, rituals ie passing of the pillar
or touch, as well as through the material symbols or artefacts like the layout of an
organizations facilities, dress codes, types of cars driven by employees, size of
offices, the elegance of furniture including extra benefits offered to the managers.
They also get to know the culture through the language used, eg chief stands for
clever, or high quality, or friendliness
Howthendoescultureaffectmanagement?
-

In planning, the degree of risk that plans should contain. Whether plans
should be developed by teams or individuals. And the degree of environment
scanning in which management will be engaged.
In organizing, how much autonomy should be designed into employees job.
Whether tasks should be done by individuals or teams, and the degree to
which department managers interact with each other.
In leading, the degree to which managers are concerned with increasing
employees job satisfaction. What leadership styles are appropriate. Whether
all disagreements even constructive ones should be eliminated.
In controlling whether to impose extra controls or not to allow employees to
control their own activities. And knowing what criteria to be emphasized in
employee performance evaluations. As well as knowing what repercussions
may occur from exceeding ones budget.

Current organizational culture issues:

1. Creating an ethical culture: The contents and strength of an organizations
culture influences its ethical climate and the ethical behaviour of its members.
If the culture is strong and support high ethical standards, it should have a very

powerful and positive influence on employee behaviour. Eg open culture of

integrity, ownership, and accountability.
Note that
culture that is high in risk tolerance, low to moderate in
aggressiveness, and focused on means and outcomes, - discourage uncontrolled
competition, pays attention to how goals are achieved and to what goals are
achieved.
2. Creating an innovative culture: The most important driver of innovation for
companies is a supportive corporative culture.
Characteristics of innovative cultures:
1. Challengeandinvolvement: ie are employees involved in, and motivated by,
and
2. committed to the long term goals and success of the organization.
3. Freedom: ie can employees independently define their work, exercise
discretion and take initiative in their day-to-day activities?
4. Trustandopenness: ie are employees supportive and respective to each
other.
5. Idealtime : Do individuals have time to elaborate on new ideas before taking
action?
6. Playfulnessorhumour: Is the workplace spontaneous and fun?
7. Conflictresolution: Do individuals make decisions and resolve issues based on
the good of the organization versus personal interest?
8. Debates: Are employees allowed to express opinions and put forth ideas for
consideration and review?
9. Risktaking: Do managers tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity are employees
rewarded for taking risks?
Creating a customer responsive culture:
customer responsive cultures:

There are five characteristics of

1. Typeofemployee: As an organization you need to hire people with personalities

and attitudes consistent with customer services.
Eg; Friendly, attentive,
enthusiastic, patient, good listening skills.
2. Typeofjobenvironment: Design jobs so that employees can have as much
control as possible to satisfy customers, without rigid rules and procedures.
3. Empowerment: Give service contact employees the discretion to make day-today decisions on job related activities.
4. Roleclarity: Reduce uncertainty about what services, contact employee can
and cannot do by continual training on product knowledge, listening and other
behavioural skills.
5. Consistentdesiretosatisfyanddelightcustomers:
it involves clarifying
organizations commitment o doing whatever it takes even if it is outside
employers normal job requirements.

Creating a culture that supports diversity: may involve, having a workforce that
is heterogeneous in terms of gender, race, ethnicity, age and other characters that
reflect differences.Ie cultures must accept and promote diverse views. Diversity
contributes to more creative solutions and enhances employee moral.
Spirituality and organizational culture:
-

Work force spirituality is a feature of a culture where organizational values

promote a sense of purpose through meaningful work taking place in the
context of community.
It also recognizes that people have a mind and a spirit, seek to find meaning
and purpose in their work, and desire to connect with other human beings
and be part of a community.
It also helps employees to cope with stresses and pressures of a turbulent
pace of life.
Work places should avoid creating distances between people, because most
organizations are now a mixture of contemporary lifestyles, single parents
families, geographical mobility, etc.
In other words, people need
involvement and connection. - something meaningful beyond the job and
yet others seek to integrate personal life with their professional lives.

There are five cultural characteristics portrayed by spiritual organizations:

-

Strongsenseofpurpose: Such organizations build its culture around a

meaningful purpose. For example profits are not viewed as the primary
values of the organization.
Focusonindividualdevelopment: They do not only provide jobs, but seek
to create cultures in which employees can continue growing and learning. Ie
they value individuals.
Trustandopenness: there is mutual trust, honesty and openness managers
are not afraid of admitting mistakes they tend to be upfront with employees,
customers, and suppliers (eg. We do not tell lies here, and everyone knows
it.)
Employeeempowerment.In such organizations, managers trust employees
to make thoughtful and conscience decisions. For instance, in hotels all
employees are encouraged to take whatever action they see necessary to
meet customer needs or help fellow workers even if it means going against
the policies.
Toleration of employee expression: Spiritual organizations do not stifle
(choke) employee emotions instead, they allow people to be themselves ie.
To express their moods and feelings without guilt or fear of reprimand.

THE BUSISNESS ENVIRONMENT

The business environment can easily be understood when you make reference to the
systems theory. As alluded earlier on, an organization is referred to as a system. In a
system there are subsystems, those that form the interdependent components that
form a whole.
Note that a closedsystem is self-supporting system and does not interact with the
environment for instance; the test tube babies may get everything from the
incubator.
The opensystems are those that interact with the outside. They influence and are
influenced by the operations of the environment. That means there is specific
relationship between an open system and its environment. Thus a business
enterprise is an open system composed of various interdependent
components and depending on its environment.
There must be synergy from the operations of the organisations whereby every
subsystem works toward a common goal. These must be benefits from coordinating
activities and it is one argument used by firms to justify taking over or merging with
another. According to the systems theory, there seem to be a disadvantage of linking
the activities of subunits because it may result in less achieved than the sum total of
individual subunits outputs when efforts are collectively put together. When this
happens it is called entropy:
Note that failure by organizations to take cognisance of the changing
environment often leads to the failure of the enterprise as a whole. Also, a
change in the environment may affect the availability of factor inputs as well as the
way our products are received on the market.
The business environment is further divided into the internal and external
environments.
THEINTERNALENVIRONMENT:
This consists of:
-

The mission and objectives of the organisation.

The organization and its management ie the organizational structure, culture,
leadership/management styles etc.

The resources of the organization eg manpower, know- how and others.

Policies standards and procedures of the organization.

A change in any of these internal environmental factors may influence the managers
ability to undertake his functions of planning, organizing, leading and controlling. It
may also affect the managers decision making capacity.eg the changes in
responsibilities and/or authority. In other words, the managers approach in
dealing with the external environment largely depends on the internal
environmental considerations that he or she may be experiencing.

THEEXTERNALENVIRONMENT
These are factors and forces outside the organization that affect the organizations
performance. It includes the specific environment and the general environment.
The specific environments include the external forces that directly impact managers
decisions and the actions are directly relevant to the achievement of the
organizations goals. goals could be in the same industry but their specific
environment may be different because they operate in distinctly different market
niches. The main forces that make up the specific environment are:
1. Theeconomicenvironment: This is one of the most important factors that the
manager needs to be on the look-out for instance; the changes in Gross
Domestic Product (GDP). It has implications on demand in the long term,
hence, it influences sales. Changes in demand patterns for the firms products,
changes in disposable income levels. Understanding the economic environment
helps the organization to understand the customers predicaments in times of
depressions.
Note that regional or national economic measures include:
- The rate of inflation
- The rate of unemployment
- The interest rates and availability of credit
- The balance of trade and foreign exchange rates
- The tax levels and incentives
- The government subsidies
- The public expenditure
- The existence of any protectionist measures among countries which tends to
restrict trade between them
- Freedom of capital movements
- Existence of any trade agreements or trade embargoes
- The economic trends for example nature of industry.
2. Thelegalenvironment: these are the framework of laws eg the law of contract
and unfair selling practices and other legislation pertaining to:

Safety of goods, law of agency

Laws that regulate price increases
The companies act safeguarding shareholders interests
Criminal law bribery, corruption etc
Standards and ethical codes of conduct
Council by laws
Stock exchange requirements for listed companies.

This shows that the manager is not free to behave anyhow in the execution of his
functions but has to adhere to various laws and standards. Failure to respond to legal
environmental consideration may lead an organizations being liable for fines in
respect of breach of contract or failure to observe the laws of the land.
3. The political environment: It mainly refers to government policy and how it
influences legislation on pricing, dividends, tax health and safety, etc. for
example the trade agreements like COMESA, SADC, etc. In evaluating the
political environment, the manager needs to ascertain the impact of political
change, the influence of political change, the consequences of the political
change as well as the likelihood of the political change taking place.
4. The social demographic and cultural environment; Organizations must
adapt their practices to the changing expectations of the society in which they
operate eg workers seek a balanced life, organizations then must adjust by
offering family leave policies, flexible work hours or even on-site child care
facilities. Cultural changes may include religious changes, corporate cultural
changes, class changes etc. Demographic changes include age, education,
gender, income family composition and geographical locations that may affect
the managers functions.
Socialfactorshavesevereimplicationsontheorganizationscorporateimageoridentit
y
in
theeyesofthesocietyotherwise,theorganizationmayendupbeingviewednegative. In other words, the
manager experiences a more culturally diverse workforce today than in
the olden days.
5. The technological environment: it is characterized by rapid changes and the
organization must adapt constantly. It has effects on types of products that a
firm can produce, the way the products are made, the way services are
provided, the way markets are identified, the cost and quality of products.
Creativity innovation leading to the development of new products/services.
Even students should endeavour to keep abreast with technological
developments and get to learn to se new packages or technologies on the
market, eg the internet, networking and the communication flexibility.
6. The ecological environment: this environment has become more popular
with the publicity of the ozone layers depletion, pollution global warming and
other related issues. There is increasing emphasis on production systems that
minimises negative environmental consequences.

Failure to comply with legislation on environment may result in being fined and
at times lobbyists may influence customers not to buy the company products.
7. The competitive environment: organizations cannot avoid competition in
their operations. They offer more or less the same product for the same market.
Information has to be estimated on the resent market share of the organization,
the market share of the competitors, the likely attitudes/responses of
competitors. It may also be necessary to assess the strategies being pursued
by the competitors.
Some of the direct forces which have a direct bearing are such as:
-

The suppliers of raw material, funds, energy, equipment, etc.

Customers; eg students, patients, citizens, etc
Human resources,
The competitors: eg the intra type and intertype. Note that, intratype
competitors are companies that produce the same or similar
products/services as the organization. While intertype competitors are
distinctly different and competing organizations.

Sources of environmental information may include; the newspapers, specialist or

consultancy services, trade journals, economic bulletins, sophisticated computer
models, the internet, and the central statistical office publications on population.
Note that, managers are directly responsible for the success or failure of an
organization. The manager is viewed as an omnipotent or symbol.
The omnipotentview of management states that a manager is important and
directly responsible for the organizations success or failure. According to this view,
someone has to be held accountable when organizations perform poorly regardless of
the reasons and that someone, is the manager. The presence of a manager must be
felt everywhere.
The symbolicview of management states that the organizations success or failure is
due to external forces outside the managers control. According to this view it is
unreasonable to expect managers to significantly affect an organizations
performance. Instead performance is influenced by factors that are beyond the
managers situations, eg. government policies, competition and or the decisions made
by previous managers.
It is called symbolicbecause it is based on the belief that managers
symbolizes control and influence eg they develop plans make decisions and
engage in other managerial activities to make sense out of nothing.
In reality managers are neither all powerful nor helpless but their decisions are
constrained both internally and externally.
Internal constraints come from the
organizations culture while external constraints come from the external environment.

MANAGING IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

The major feature of global environment is global trade. Global trade is shaped by the
forces of regional trading alliances and trade agreements negotiated through the
world trade organizations. Examples of global trades are such as the North American
Free Trade Agreement, (NAFTA), African union, SADC, COMESA, etc. Managers are
encouraged to avoid seeing the world through their own eyes .parochialism and
perspectives.
Individuals with parochial attitude do not recognize that others have different ways of
living and working. they ignore other peoples values and customs. They apply an
attitude of ours is better than any foreign culture.
They are also advised to avoid the ethnocentric attitude, ie the belief that the best
work approaches and practices are those of the home country, where the main offices
are located.
Such kind of attitude believes that people in foreign countries do not have the needed
skills, experience, knowledge or experience to contribute to the best business
decisions as people in their own family. In other words, such attitudes do not trust
foreign employees with the key decision of technology.
Polycentric attitude is a belief that employees in a host country (ie a foreign country
in which the organization is conducting business) know the best work approaches and
practices for running their businesses. Such managers view foreign operations as
different and difficult to understand. They are likely to allow employees in foreign
countries (host country) figure out how best to do things.
Managers are however, advised to have a geocentric attitude. This is a world
oriented view that focuses on using the best approaches and people from the around
the globe. Such attitudes is portrayed by managers who view for the best approaches
and people regardless of origin. Ie viewing and utilizing people according to their
expertise. It actually eliminates parochial attitudes and developing an understanding
of cross-cultural differences.
Other types of international organizations are such as; multinational corporationsie
operating in multiple countries, multi-domestic corporations decentralise
management and other decisions to the local country, global company, etc.
There are different ways of going international, eg global sourcing or global
outsourcing for instance, purchasing materials and labour around the world based on
lowest cost. Exporting or importing, licensing or franchising, use of strategic alliances,
Joint ventures, and the use of foreign subsidiary.

SOCIALRESPONSIBILITYANDMANAGERIALETHICS
The concept of social responsibility can be described in various ways , for example,
profit making or going beyond profit making, improving social or environmental
conditions, etc. Social responsibility has two elements:
1. Socialobligation: referring to a firm engaging to a social action because of its
obligation to meet certain economic and legal responsibilities. That means the
organization does what it is obligated to do and nothing more.
This view reflects the classical view of social responsibility which says that
management is only socially responsible to maximize profits. Ie the
primaryresponsibility is to operate the business in the best interest of
the stake holders, whose primary concerns are financial. This simply means
that when management spend money or organizational resources for
social good, then, they must add to the costs of doing business and
this cost must be passed on to the consumers, thus maximizing on
profits. It also reflects that, socially responsible activities such as
social improvement programs should be determined by law, by public
policy, and by the actions and contributions of private individuals. In
other words, an organization that allocates profits to social improvement
activities, it is abusing its authority. Because managers will be concentrating on
activities that have no immediate profit return to the company. Besides that
such actions by management may work to the disadvantage of society. Why,
because the financial costs of social activities may over time, cause the price of
the companys goods and services to increase, and customers would pay the
bill.
2. Socialresponsiveness: means a firm engages in social actions in response to
some popular social need. Managers in these companies are guided by social
norms and values and make practical market oriented decisions about their
actions.
That means a socially responsible organization goes beyond what it is obligated
to do or chooses to do because of some popular social need and does what it
can to help improve society because it is the right thing to do.
Note that the social economic view is the view that managements social
responsibility goes beyond making profits and includes protecting and improving
societys welfare. ie organizations are not independent entities responsible
only to stock holders but have an obligation to the larger society.
Therefore, the definition for social responsibility could be as a business intention
beyond its legal and economic obligations to do the right things and act in ways that

are good for society. that means, a business obeys the law and cares for its
stockholders. It adds an ethical imperative to do those things. It also makes society
better and not to do those things that make it worse.
Green marketing:
This is a concept that management has come to consider the impact of their
organization on the environmental disasters that are taking place. For example, the
plastic shopping bags, - plastic bags can last for over 1000 years when throne away.
Hence managing the environment is called green marketing.
Organizationscangogreenby:
-

Legalapproach; ie simply doing what is required legally. (obeying rules

without challenge)
Marketapproach; organizations become more sensitive to environmental
issues, ie responding to environmental preferences of customers. Whatever
customers demand in terms of environmentally friendly products will be what
the organization will provide. Eg reducing the use of chemicals on crops.
Stakeholdersapproach; ie meeting the stake holders demand
Activistsapproach; (dark green) ie ways of protecting the earths natural
resources. Eg ecological cleaning products in a near zero emission factory.

MANAGERSANDETHICALBEHAVIOUR
Ethics refers to principles, values and beliefs that define right and wrong decisions
and behaviour.
Some factors that determine ethical and unethical behaviour are such as;
1. Stageofmoraldevelopment: there are three levels of moral development and
each has two stages and at each stage an individuals moral judgement
becomes less dependent on outside influences and more internalized.
- Pre-conventional; this is the first level where the individuals choice
between right and wrong is based on personal consequences from outside
sources, eg physical punishment, reward, or exchange of favours.
- Conventionallevel: In this stage, ethical decisions rely on maintaining
expected standards and living up to the expectations of others.
- Principledlevel: in this stage individuals define moral values apart from the
authority of the groups to which they belong or society in general.
2. Individualcharacteristics: There are two individual characteristics, which are
values and personality.
Values are basic convictions about what is right and wrong. Peoples values
develop from young stages based on what we see and hear from our parents,
teachers, friends and others. Values are broad and cover a wide range of

issues. The stage of moral development is a measure of independence from

outside influences.
Note that an individuals action is influenced by two personality variable which
are: egostrength and locusofcontrol.
- Ego strength; measures the strength of the persons conviction ie, people
with high ego strength are likely to resist impulses to act unethically, instead
follow their convictions. Individuals with high ego strength are more likely to
do what they think is right and are more consistent in their moral judgement
and actions than those with low ego strength.
- Locusofcontrol: is the degree to which people believe they control their
own fate. Eg people with an internal locus of control believe they control
their own destine.
Such people are likely to take responsibility for
consequences and rely on their own standards to guide their behaviour.
They are also consistent in their moral judgement and actions. Whereas
those with external locus believe that whatever happens to them is due to
luck or chance. They are less likely to take personal responsibility for the
consequences of their behaviour and more likely rely on external forces.
3. Structuralvariables: An organizations structure design does influence
whether employees behave ethically. For example, structures that minimize
ambiguity and uncertainty with formal rules and regulations and those that
continually remind employees of what is ethical are more likely to encourage
ethical behaviour. Structural variables are such as goals, performance appraisal
systems and the allocation of rewards, and procedures.
NB: goals at times can create some unexpected problems such as, those who
do not reach the expected set goals are more likely to engage in unethical
behaviour.
Performance appraisal systems can also influence ethical behaviour by focusing
on outcomes while others may include examining the means and ends. Note
that when employees are examined on outcomes, they may be pressured to act
anyhow in order to look good on the outcomes and not on how they got the
results.
The main problem in this variable is that if management becomes lenient in
correcting the unethical behaviour of the successful employees, other
employees may copy behaviour that they see.
4. Organizational culture: The content and strength of an organizations culture
influences ethical behaviour. A culture that most likely encourages high ethical
standards is one that is high in risk tolerance, control and conflict tolerance.
Employees in such a culture are encouraged to be aggressive and innovative,
are aware that unethical standards will be discovered and feel free to openly
challenge expectations they consider to be unrealistic or personally undesirable.

Value based management is one of the tools that can be used to influence
employees in the organization in the way they should do their work. Also, top
management must reinforce the importance of values throughout the
organization.
5. Issueintensity: it is a concept on how important an ethical issue is to an
individual. There are six characteristics to determine issue intensity;
- Greatness of harm iehowmanypeoplewillbeharmedbytheact.
- Consensus of wrong: how much agreement is there that this action is
wrong.
- Probability of harm: how likely is it that this action will cause harm.
- Immediacy of consequences; will harm be felt immediately?
- Proximity to victim(s); how close are the potential victims
- Concentration of effect: how concentrated is the effect of the action on
the victims?
These factors suggest that the greater the number of people harmed, the more
agreement that the action is wrong; the greater the likelihood that the action
will be felt and the closer the person feels to the victim and the more
concentrated the effect of the action on the victim. The greater the issue
intensity or importance. ie when an ethical issue is important, employers are
more likely to behave ethically.
Q. Areethicalissues/standardsuniversal?
- Common moral beliefs may exist.
- Social and cultural differences between countries are important factors that
determine ethical and unethical behaviour eg bribes in some parts of the world
are acceptable.
- Payments to influence foreign officials/politicians management are guided by
the law of their home countries, most of which make it illegal to knowingly
corrupt a foreign official.
- another guide is to use the global compact a document created by united
nations that outlines principles for doing business globally in the areas of human
rights, labour, and the environment. The aim of compact is more sustainable
and inclusive global economy. The organization that make a commitment do so
because they believe that the world business community plays a significant role
in improving economic and social conditions.
Waysofencouragingethicalbehaviour:
- Employeeselection; organizations need to employ employees with high
ethical standards. The selection process must be viewed as an opportunity
to learn about an individuals level of moral development, personal values
ego strength and locus of control.

Codesofethicsshould be specific enough to show employees the spirit in

which they are supposed to do things and yet loose enough to allow freedom
of judgement. The contents of the codes of ethics fall into three categories;
i. Being a dependableorganizationalcitizen, like managing finances well,
punctuality, dress codes, obedience to supervisors, demonstrating courtesy
respect, honesty and fairness, complying with safety rules, etc.
ii.
Donotdoanythingunlawful/impropertoharmtheorganization, eg
conducting business in compliance with laws, avoiding bribes, maintaining
confidentiality, not using company property for personal gains and avoiding
propagating false or misleading information, etc.
iii.
Beinggoodtocustomers;
egconveyingtrueclaimsinproductadvertisement, performingassigned duties to
the best of your ability, providing quality products/services.
Topmanagementsleadership; are considered as role models, in terms of
both words and actions. But what they do is far more important than what
they say. Eg if top management take company resources for their personal
use or inflate their expenses or even give favoured treatment to friends, then
they imply that such behaviour is acceptable for all employees. In addition,
managers set the tone with their rewards and punishment practices. Ie
whatever kind of reward (pay or promotions) sends a strong signal to
employees.
Jobgoalsandperformanceappraisals: goal achievement is usually a key
issue in performance appraisal. Performance appraisals should focus both on
economic goals and be able to justify the means. Both ends and means
should be evaluated.
Ethicstraining: organizations are encouraged to set up seminars and
workshops and similar ethics programs to encourage ethical behaviour.
Training increases individuals levels of moral development. It also increases
awareness of ethical issues in business.
Independentsocialaudits:
it is a way of evaluating decisions and
management practices in terms of the organizations code of ethics. Audits
can be done randomly and regularly.
Protectivemechanism: should be put in place to protect employees who
experience ethical dilemmas, So that employees can make right decisions
without fear of reprimand.
Like appointing officers and advisors who
advocate for ethically right alternatives. These officers can be assigned to
design, direct or modify the ethics programs. - protecting whistle blowers.
-`
MANAGERIALFUNCTIONS
Decision making is what managers do and all managers are judged based on
the outcome of the decisions they make. Somehow, the manager will be
looking at the functions of management which are planning, organizing,
leading and controlling. At the same time. The managers duties could be

described as GROUP simply meaning that he is Goal oriented, Responsible

for everything that is taking place in the Organization, Uncertainty ie
managers operate in an environment which is full of uncertainty, ie risky. P. is
for partnership with all stake holders. Decision making can be described
as choosing among alternatives. It is a process. It has some steps;
1. Identifyingtheproblem: problems may come in form of complaints from
employees. It is therefore, important not confuse a problem with the
symptoms of a problem, eg a drop in sales can it be considered a problem
or a symptom? Also, note that a manager who resolves a wrong
problem perfectly is likely to perform poorly just like a manager
who does not even recognize a problem and does nothing.
2. Identifying decision criteria: every decision maker has criteria that
guide his/her decisions even if they are not explicitly stated.
3. Allocating weights to the criteria: weights are assigned to each item
in order to give them proper priority, if the criteria is not equally
important.
4. Developing alternatives: this stage may require listing the viable
alternatives that could resolve the problem. It is the stage where the
decision maker needs to be creative.
5. Analysing alternatives: it is a stage of evaluating each one by using
the criteria established in stage 2 and 4. When you multiply each
alternative by the assigned weight, you get the weighted alternatives.
The total score for each alternative, then is the sum of its weighted
criteria.
6. Selecting an alternative: choosing the best alternative. Ie the one that
had the highest score.
7. Implementing the alternative: this is where you put the decision into
action, by conveying it to those affected and getting them involved. Note
that involving those who are supposed to implement the decision in the
decision process, helps them to be fully committed and to understand
what they are supposed to do.
8. Evaluating decisions effectiveness:ie evaluating to see whether the
outcome was effective, was the problem solved, what went wrong during
the process, where there any error? Then apply corrective measure to the
deviation.
Threeperspectivesonhowmanagersmakedecisions:
1. Makingdecisionsrationally;
a rational decision maker would be fully
objective and logical. Decisions must be made in the best interest of the
organization.
2. Makingdecisionsboundedrationality; it is a concept that when managers
make decisions they are rationally but are limited by their ability to process
information.
Because they cant possibly analyse all information on all

alternatives, instead managers satisfied, ie accepting solutions that are good

enough rather than maximize.
- /Managers decisions are influenced by several variables; eg. Organizational
culture, internal politics, power considerations,
a phenomenon called
escalation of commitment, which is an increased commitment to a previous
decision despite evidence that it may have been wrong.
3. Makingdecisions: theroleofintuition: it is making decisions on the basis of
experience, feelings and accumulated judgement. There are five aspects of
intuition,
- Subconscious mental processing, where managers use data from the
subconscious mind to help them make decisions.
- Value added ethics based decisions, making decisions based on ethical
values or culture.
- Experience based decisions, decisions based on passed experience.
- Affect initiated decisions, decisions based on feelings or emotions.
- Cognitive based decisions, decisions based on skills, knowledge, and training.
TYPESOFDECISIONSANDDECISIONMAKINGCONDITIONS
1. Structured problems and programmed decisions:
the structured
problems are straight forward, familiar and easily defined problems. Eg a
delayed order, or when a customer returns a purchase.
Programmeddecisions: these are repetitive decisions that can be handled
using a routine approach. Eg a waiter spills a drink on a customers jacket, the
manager may offer to clean the jacket at the expense of the organization, ie the
decision done depending on the procedure, rules, or policy.
2. Unstructured
problems
and
non-programmed
decisions:unstructuredproblems are problems which are new or unusual and
for which information is ambiguous/incomplete, eg modifying business to
comply with new smoking ban. When problems are unstructured manager rely
on non-programmed decisions in order to make unique solutions.
Non-programmeddecision are unique and non-recurring and involve custom
made solutions.
Most lower level managers mostly rely on programmed decisions
because the situations are repetitive. Upper level managers deal with
unusual or difficult decisions.
Conditions for decision making: there are three different conditions experienced
by managers when making decisions;
1. Certainty; a situation in which a manager can make accurate decisions
because the outcome of every alternative is known.
2. Risk: conditions in which the decision maker is likely to estimate the likelihood
of certain outcomes. Decision makers depend on historical data, or secondary
information.

3. Uncertainty: decisions one is not certain about the outcomes. Under such
conditions the decisions are influenced by the limited amount of available
information and the psychological orientation of the decision maker.
Under such conditions, an optimistic manager may follow maxi-max choice, ie
maximizing he maximum possible payoff. While a pessimistic manager, may
follow a maxi-min choice ie maximizing the minimum possible pay off, and those
who desire to maximize their regret may opt for a mini-max choice ie not
resulting into anything profitable.
Decision making styles are likely to be influenced by ones thinking style. Thinking
styles reflect two things:
-

The source of information you tend to use. Eg external data and facts or
internal sources, like feelings and intuition
How you process the information ( linear, rational, logical, analytical or nonlinear, intuitive, creative, insightful)

Decision making biases and errors are ; heuristic ie rules of thumb that managers use
to simplify decision making, but it does not mean that those rules are reliable. The
common errors may be such as; overconfidence, immediate gratification bias,
anchoring effect, selek2ctive perception bias, confirmation bias, framing bias.
availability bias, representation bias, randomness bias, sunk cost error, self-serving
bias, hindsight bias.

FOUNDATIONSOFPLANNING
Planning is the process of establishing goals and developing suitable courses of action
to achieve these goals. It entails developing the methods of achieving the goals as
well as determining and setting aside the resources that will ultimately be required for
goal attainment.
It is concerned with both ends and means. It could be thought of as the dynamic
process of analytically looking at the organizations present position with a view to
determining its future position. Planning is necessitated by todays turbulent
environment and the consequent need for mangers to minimise risk and maximise
opportunities.
In formal planning, specific goals covering a specific time period are defined. Goals
are written and shared with organizational members to reduce ambiguity and create a
common understanding about what needs to be accomplished.

WHYIS PLANNING NECESSARY?

1. It provides direction to managers: when employees know the objectives
and what is required of them to reach the goal, they cooperate in accomplishing
those goals.
2. It reduces uncertainty: it helps to respond effectively to eliminate
uncertainty.
3. It minimizes waste and redundancy: when work activities are coordinated
around plans inefficiencies become obvious and can be corrected or eliminated.
4. It establishes goals and standards used in controlling. When you plan,
you develop goals and plans. When you control, you see whether the plans
have been carried out and the goals met.
5. It encourages the proactive approach to management ( the approach
whereby managers anticipate and provide for changes) this contrasts with the
reactive or crisis approach which is characterised by mangers waiting for a
problem to arise and then solve it.
6. It ensures that an organization is better prepared for todays ever changing
environment. And resources aimed at or to be committed towards achieving
organizational goals can be set aside if a formalised planning system exists.
TYPESOF PLANS:
Plans may be described in terms of breadth ie strategic versus operational, time
frame for example short term or long term, specificity ie directional versus specific
and frequency of use ie single use vs standing. They are documents outlining how
goals will be accomplished.
1. Operationalplans; these are short term plans undertaken at the lower
managerial levels and tend to concentrate on the firms current scale of
operations. At times may be called routing plans because they relate to the day
to day running of the organization.
2. Tacticalplans; these are medium term plans undertaken by middle
management and they focus on the organizations current scale of operations
with particular emphasis on efficiency in resource utilization.eg budgeting. They
should also focus on performance of subunits
3. Strategic and corporate plans: these are the long term survival plans for the
whole organization undertaken by top management. They provide the basic
framework for all the other plans. There focus is on the future scale operations
with emphasis being on investments and divestments, mergers and acquisitions
and all other issues pertaining to the expansion and contraction of the firms
scale of operations. It provided the organization with its overall mission and
direction. For that reason they are also called corporate plan and thus provide
for the basis of formulating the policies and strategies.
Specific and directional plans:

Specific plans: are detailed when one makes such plans all the information
on procedures, methods, etc. will be available and the consequences of
actions would be known. Emphasis in this case would be on consistency ie
two people can come up with the same set of specific plans.
Directional plans; act a guideline, providing the manager with only a
skeletal framework while according him some reasonable leeway as to how
he is to formulate his plans. They simulate innovation through encouraging
creativity. They are flexible.

Factorsinfluencingchoiceofspecificordirectionalplans:
-

The strategy and culture of the organization ie whether it is one of

innovation or standardization (uniformity)
The stage in the organizational life cycle ie whether it is in its infancy without
any well-defined clientele and procedures or it is a well- established
organization.
Level in the organization with operational levels vouching for specific plans
and the strategic level going for the more dynamic directional plans.
Degree of environmental uncertainty whereby the more turbulent the
environment, the greater the need for flexibility and hence the need for
directional plans.
Time horizons: ie the shorter the time horizon the more dependable the
available information hence the greater the preference for specific plans.

Somedisadvantagesofplanning:
-

May create rigidity sticking to original plans even when the conditions have
changed.
Plans cannot be developed for a dynamic environment failing to plan because
the environment is unpredictable.
Formal plans cannot replace intuition and creativity routine planning may
impede on someones innovative vision.
Planning focuses managers attention on todays competition and not on
tomorrows survival eg capitalizing on existing business.
Formal planning reinforces success which may lead to failure eg success
plans may provide a false sense of security, generating more confidence in
the formal plans than is warranted.

Elements of planning:
-

Objectives:
Actions
Resources
implementation

GOALSETTING:
Goals are desired outcomes/targets. They form the criteria against which work results
are measured.
Approaches to goal setting:
1. Traditional goal setting: goals are set by top management and flow down to the
operational departments. The assumption is that management knows what is
best for the organization.
2. Management by objectives (*MBO); a process of setting mutually agreed goals
and using those goals to evaluated employee performance.
Stepsinsettinggoals:
1. Review the mission/purpose. A mission is a broad statement of purpose that
provides an overall guide to what an organization wants to achieve goals
therefore, must reflect the mission.
2. Evaluate available resources; set goals that are achievable with the available
resources.
3. Determine the goals individually or with input from others goals should be
congruent with the organizational mission.
4. Write down the goals and communicate them. Written goals become evidence
of the importance of working towards something.
5. Review results and whether goals are being met if goals are not being met then,
changk2e them as needed.
The focus here is in making goals that are: SMART! Ie Specific, Measurable,
Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound.
Definingthepresentposition:
There is need to answer the question where we are? What are present resources?
What are present profit, costs, revenues, etc?
Determiningaidsandbarriers:
There is need to determine factors both within and outside an organization and
relating to both the present and the future position which aid us in achieving our
goals.
Typical aids include among other the following:
-

Favourable demand for product

Favourable government policy

Superior quality of machinery
Existence of infrastructure, etc.

There is also need to determine those factors both within and outside the organization
that restrict or limit them in achieving their organizational targets. These may
include:
-

The treats of competitors

Customers changing needs
Unfavourable government policy
The increasing bargaining power of employees
Increasing raw material costs etc.

Developing a setofactions:
Developing a set of actions is tantamount to establishing the specific plans. The
actions so developed must close the gap between the actual performance and
standard performance and must also maximise the benefits arising from the aids
while at the same time minimising the negative effects posed by barriers.
It should also be noted that plans must be implemented on the basis of some action
plan or implementation timetable, ie clear deadlines must be established for each
critical activity.
BARRIERSTOEFFECTIVEPLANNING
There are a number of factors that may limit the effectiveness of plans. Some of them
are:
1. Lack of environment awareness:
managers may not have sufficient
knowledge about the organization to embark on the planning process. For
example, information on profitability and on which resources to use for
achieving organizational goals.
2. Lack of organizational knowledge: it emanates from the managers who have
lack of confidence in their abilities and have no knowledge about the
organization in terms of goals, sub units, etc.
3. Resistancetochange: changing the organizations current situation is one of
the consequences of planning and some members may resent change. This
tends to reduce the effectiveness of planning.
4. Timeandexpense: planning costs money and time, and sometimes sacrifices
have to be made. Some members may be unwilling to make such sacrifices
preferring instead, to tackle problems as they arise.
5. Lackofknowledgeonthebenefitsofplanning: if organizational members are
not enlightened on the benefits from planning, they may not be keen to
implement plans.

6. Lackofinvolvement: if people who are supposed to implement the plans are

not involved, there may not be enough information to enable effective planning.
7. Lackoftopmanagerialsupport:
note that top managerial support is
instrumental for effective planning since it ensures that all the policy framework
is set in place and that all the required resources are provided.
There are various ways of making planning more effective:
1. Topmanagementssupport: ie top managements support is a pre requisite.
2. Managers should realize limitations of planning: note that planning is a perfect
solution to all problems and there is need for managers to understand the short
comings of planning eg its dependence on assumptions about the future.
3. An effort must be made to involve every body
4. Plans should be communicated to all concerned.
5. Plans should be in accordance with environmental trends.
6. Contingency plans should be formulate

STRATEGICMANAGEMENT
Strategic management refers to what managers do to develop an organizations
strategies. It is a task that involves all the management functions; which are;
planning, organizing, leading and controlling. It is important to note that the
continued existence of the organization depends on the plans that policy makers have
for the organizations long term survival.
A strategy: is a set of long term objectives affecting an organizations position in its
environment. According to Mintzberg, a strategy is a tale of 4 ps.
-

Position what position they envisage themselves in the market.

Perspective the organizations view of itself their perception of the future
Ploy ie some form of trick, stratagem
Plan a strategy is systematic it is some form of plan.

These are major courses of action that an organization has to take in order to achieve
its objectives. It can be viewed as the basis of survival or extinction. It is about
winning. It could also refer to the pattern of objectives, purposes or goals and the
major policies and plans for achieving these goals stated in such a way as to define
what business the company is in or is to be in and the kind of company it is to be.

A strategic plan is a document or statement indicating the time scale for the
strategy and the resources available for achieving it.
Strategic planning therefore, concerns itself with planning for the long term survival of
the organization and is typically done at the top managerial levels. It may also be
perceived as comprehending the environment and ensuring that the organization
adapts to the changing environment.
What business strategy is all about is a competitive advantage the sole purpose of
strategic planning is to enable a company to gain as efficiently as possible a
sustainable edge over its competitors. Ie corporate strategy implies an attempt
to alter a companys strength relative to that of its competitors in the most efficient
way.
Characteristics of strategic decisions are:
-

Will be concerned with the scope of the organizations activities

They involve matching the organizations activities to environment in which I
operates.
They match the activities with its resources capabilities
They are also concerned with allocation and re-allocation of resources.

Strategic planning is a process which begins with:

-

Thevision: this is the organizations ideal or cherished position. It is the

businesses underlying value.
Mission: ie the purpose why business exists. Or the guiding principles. This
concept gives the ultimate guidance as to why an organization does what it
does as opposed to how.
It includes the purpose why the organization exists. For example, to create
wealth for shareholders the priority here is the stakeholders.

Theimportanceofthemission for corporate strategy is that it deals with values which in

turn aredirectlyrelated to customers buying decisions, eg by advertising, branding
and market research. Further, accountants are renown for their ethical principles and
vales in dealing with customers. Also, a sense of mission value may motivate
employees to greater levels of performance. Above all a mission is part of the
corporate culture and contributes towards cohesion.
In addition, changes in
corporate culture are generally manifested by changes in strategic orientation.
The mission of the organization should be visible to all in form of a mission statement.
-

Goals: these are the broad measures of how mission will be attained.Goals
generally define the measures that will be used to measure progress towards
mission accomplishment. Goes should be simple, consistent and long term.

Objectives: these are specific targets to be met so as to achieve mission

and goals. Objectives may be split into corporate and unit objectives.
Corporate objectives are for the whole organisation which become the basis
for unit objectives. Objectives should on key factors for business success, for
example, profitability, market share, growth, cash flow, customer
satisfaction, quality of the products, industrial relations, added value.
Unit objectives may be such as; decreasing the number of rejects by say
70%, or producing monthly reports more timeously, etc.
Objectivesmayalsobesubdividedintoprimaryandsecondaryobjectives.
The
primary objective is the key objective while the secondary objectives are
associated with subsidiary or noncore objectives. Objectives must be
quantified.
Strategy: provides the logic of the company and defines the business the
company is in and the competencies and competitive advantages by which it
hopes to prosper. It is all about relating the organization to its environment.
The main types of strategies are corporate, business and functional
strategies.
Types of corporate strategies are growth strategies, concentration growth
occurs when the organizationfocuses on its primary line of business and
increases the size of products offered or markets in that primary business.
There is also the vertical growth which can either be backward or forward or
both. In vertical backward situation, an organisation becomes its
own supplier such that it controls own inputs, whereas,in forward
vertical situation, the organisation becomes its own distributor and is able to
control its own output.
In addition, the organization can look into horizontal integration, where the
company grows by combining with competitors. Or the organization can
diversify into either related or unrelated. In a related diversification the
organisation combines with firms in different but related industries. There is
a strategic fit with unrelated diversification.The organization combines with
firms in different and unrelated industries. Note that in the unrelated
industries there is no strategic fit among the businesses.
There could also be stability strategies in which an organization continues
to do what it is currently doing eg continuing to serve the same clients by
offering the same products/service, maintaining the market share and
sustaining an organizations current business operations.
Renewal strategies are those that try to readdress a troubled organization
especially when it is performing poorly. Examples of renewal strategies are
retrenchment and turn around strategies.

Policiesandstandardsofbehaviour: they are converted into everyday

performance. May reflect the treatment of customers, speed at which they
are served.
Values: these relate to the organizations culture, unstated beliefs of people
who work in the organization. May include the moral and ethical principles,
eg ethics for practising accountants.
Environmentalanalysis: in this context the environment is largely the
external environment. refer to the business environment topic. Basically,
It is the SWOT analysis.An alternative method would be the use of the five
forces model by Michael Porter. This model determines an industrys
attractiveness and profitability. The model uses five factors which are:
. Threats of new entrants
. Threats of substitute products
. Bargaining power of buyers
. Bargaining power of suppliers
. Current rivalry

Internal analysis:
After the SWOT analysis it is important to look into the internal appraisal. It
gives information about specific resources and capabilities. Its capabilities are
its skills, and abilities in doing the work activities needed in its business. The
major value creating capabilities of the organization are known as its corecompetences. Note that both resources and core competencies determine the
organizations competitive weapons.
After the internal analysis, then, formulate strategies on how to implement.
Nomatter how effectively an organization has planned its strategies,
performance may suffer if strategies are not implemented properly.
Evaluation of the results is also important. As an organization, you may have to look
at how effective the strategies have been and what adjustments may be necessary?
Adjustments are made to regain market share and to improve the companys bottom
line.
MANAGINGCORPORATESTRATEGIES:
Management can use
1. Thecorporateportfoliomatrixwhich may be used to establish priorities for
allocating resources. For instance, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
matrix where you have:
Market share
High

low

Stars
Cash cows

Question marks
Dogs

Note that the horizontal axis represents the market share and the vertical axis
indicates anticipated growth.
The strategic implications of using the BCG matrix is that the dogs should be sold off
or liquidated because they have a low market share with low growth rate. The
organization must milk the cash cows for as much as possible and limit any new
investments in them and use the large cash generated to develop stars and question
marks with strong potential to improve market share. This shows that heavy
investments in stars may help take advantage of the market growth and help
maintain high market share. The stars eventually turn into cash cows but for the
question marks some may be sold off while some may be tuned into stars.
2. Competitivestrategieswhichdefines
its
competitive
advantage,
the
products/services it will offer. The role of competitive advantage is what sets an
organization apart. It is its distinctive edge.
The distinctive edge comes from the organizations core competencies because
the organization does something that other organizations cannot do or it does
better than others. At times it comes from the resources that the organization
have. Eg quality inputs for the end products.
Note that, most organizations today have established quality management
departments as an attempt to set themselves apart and sustaining competitive
advantage.

Organizing
Organizing is an arrangement and structuring of work to accomplish organizational
goals.
It entails designing the organizational structure appropriate for the organization.
Structure can be shown on the organizational chart. When the structure is changed, it
is known as organizational design.
The organizational structure shows the following;

The arrangement and inter-relationship of tasks and positions within a

company
The subdivision of the organizations activities and link between the different
work functions.
The levels of management- ie the organizations hierarchy and authority
structure.
The lines of authority within the organization and the formal communication
lines.

The key elements of the organizational chart are:

i.

ii.
-

Work specialization: involves dividing work activities into separate job

tasks ie workers specialize in doing part of the activity rather than the entire
activity in order to increase work put. It can also be known as division of
labour.
Departmentalization: involves grouping jobs together. There are five
common forms of departmentalization;
Functional departmentalization; ie grouping according to the function. In this
case, each department is responsible for a particular function and indeed
serves the whole organization in that respect. It creates inter-dependence
among the sub-units and necessitates coordination (integration) of skills on
the part of the management concerned.

Advantages of functional departmentalization: there is easier control. it makes

it easier to allocate resources. Suitable for a stable environment. It also
benefits the specialized jobs. In addition, staff members can easily be identified
with a specialist activity and can formulate a career path which positively
motivates the workers. Above all, it helps in avoiding duplication of efforts.
The disadvantages of functional departmentalization: it is not suitable for an
ever changing environment because the system is inflexible and rigid. Decision
making tends to be slow because the bureaucracy, forces decisions to follow the
channels and requires co-ordination of skills due to the inter-dependence of the
functions. Besides, when one section of the department has a problem, it affects the
whole department. Above all, leads to monotony.
-

Geographical departmentalization; iegrouping according to the region.

Product departmentalization; ie grouping according to the kind of product.
Advantages: it is suitable for a changing environment because there is no
bureaucracy to be observed. It is also suitable for an organization
experiencing adiverse product range because it necessitates an increase in
the size and scale of operations of the organization. In addition, there is
improved efficiency and quicker decision making. There is also lesser need
for coordination and communication because each sub-unity makes its own

iii.

iv.
v.

decisions and the costs of coordinating are minimized. Above all provides
training round for general managers.
Process departmentalization; ie grouping on the basis of customer flow or
product.
Customer departmentalization; ie grouping according to specific and or
unique customers who have common needs.
Chain of command: refers to the line of authority extending from upper
organizational levels to lower levels and clarifies who reports to whom. The
chain of command has three elements:
Authority;ie the right to tell people what to do.
Responsibility; obligations to expect performance.
Unity of command;ie the principle that each person should report only to
one manager in order to avoid conflicting demands from multiple bosses.
Span of control; ie the number of employees a manager can efficiently and
effectively manage.
Centralization and decentralization;
Decentralization; from the management point of view, refers to the
location of decision making power within the organization. It may also be
thought of as the extent to which power and authority are dispersed down
the channels of communication.

Advantages of decentralization:
- There is quick decision making through reduced bureaucracy.
- There is increased employee motivation from autonomy of decisions.
- It unburdens senior management. Ie management has more time at their disposal
to plan, organize and lead.
- It promotes establishment of use of broad controls which may create motivation.
It facilitates product diversification,and facilitates comparison of different
organizational units possible.
Factors influencing decentralisation/centralization:
-

importance of the decision. The importance is measured in terms of the

consequences of error. That means the more important a decision is, the
greater the tendency to centralise.
The desire for uniformity of company policy: if consistency is valued
within the organization above all, then there will be less decentralization and
more centralization.
The size of the organization: iethe larger the organization, the more the
decisions to be made, the greater the tendency to decentralize.

vi.

The organizational culture: ie the way in which organizational members

behave or conduct themselves may also have a bearing on whether an
organization advocates decentralisation or not.
Managerial philosophy: ie authority derived from the higher managerial
managers eg how managers treat such issues as delegation, leadership style,
etc. it influences how manager behave.
Centralization; refers to the degree to which decision making takes place at
upper levels of the organization. For instance, top managers make key
decisions with little or no inputs from lower level employees then, it is
centralized.
Decentralization; is the degree to which lower level employees provide
inputs or actually make decisions. It can also be known as employee
empowerment.
Formalization: ie how standardized an organizations jobs are and the
extent to which employee behaviour is guided by rules and procedures.

MECHANISTIC AND ORGANIC STRUCTURES

A mechanistic structure is characterised by rigidity and tight controls. It has high
specialization, departmentalization, narrow span of control and high formalization.
Information is mostly downwards and has very little participation in decision making
by lower lever employees. Members of the organization strive for efficiency and rely
heavily on rules and regulations, standardized tasks and similar controls.
It minimizes the impact of different personalities, judgements, and ambiguity because
it views human traits as inefficient and inconsistent. Never-the-less, there is no
organization that is 100% mechanistic, although some big organizations may portray
such.
The organic organization:
It is highly adaptive and flexible. Jobs may be specialized but not standardized and
can easily change as need require. Work is organized around employee teams. And
employees are highly trained and empowered to handle diverse activities and
problems require minimal formal rules and little or no direct supervision.
Discuss the advantages of organizing?
-

Clear line of communication

To distribute the work evenly
Resource allocation
For easy Coordination purpose

Comments:

As a manager, one needs to know when a mechanic structure would be preferable and
when an organic structure would be more appropriate. Some factors that influence
the decision on structures are such as;
Contingencyfactors;
These are situational because of the changing
environment. Organizations tend to restructure and try to be lean, fast, and
flexible. Also, because of global competition it forces organisation to be
innovative and hence respond to the changes in the environment.
Traditional organizational designs:
1. Simplestructure: may start from an entrepreneurial set up with law
departmentalization, wide span of control authority centralized in a single
person and little formalization.
It changes as more employees join the
organization.
Advantages: fast decision making, flexible, inexpensive to maintain, clear
accountability.
Disadvantages: not appropriate as organizations grow. Tend to rely on one
person, hence may be risk.
2. Functional structures: ie grouping similar or related occupational specialties
together.
Advantages: they are cost saving. The organization takes advantage of the
economies of scale, there is minimal duplication of work, human resource and
equipment. Besides that, employees are grouped with others with similar skills.
3. Divisional structures: they are made up of separate business units/division.
Each division has limited autonomy, with a division manager who has authority
over his/her unit and is responsible for performance. In such structures the
parent corporation provides support services like financial and legal services.
The main advantage is that it focuses on results.ie customer oriented. That
means managers are responsible for what happens to their products/services.
The main disadvantage is that there is duplication of activities and resources
which results in an increase in costs and reduced efficiency.eg decisions are
concentrated at the departmental level leaving out top managers un aware of
what is taking place in the organization.
Contemporary organizational structures:
These are structures designed to be lean, flexible and innovative. They are more like
organic.
1. Teamstructures: it is one in which the organization is made up of work teams
that do the organizations work. In such structures, employees empowerment is
crucial because there is no line of managerial authority from top to bottom. All

employees design and do work in the way they think is best, but also are held
responsible for performance results.
The major advantages are that employees are more involved and empowered.
There is also reduced barriers among functional areas.
However, the
disadvantages are that there is no clear chain of command and there is more
pressure for performance.
2. Matrix and project structures: these are structures that assign specialists
from different functional areas to work in projects but who return to their areas
when the project is completed. Ie once the project is complete, they either
return to normal or are relocated to the sight of another project. It common in
the building industry.
Theuniqueness in such structures is in the aspect of creating a dual chain of
command where employees end up with two manager/bosses eg,the functional
area manager and the project or product manager.
Advantages of matrix structures are that, it is result oriented ie the emphasis is
on gathering a team to achieve results eg,increased sales. There is also, some
professional identification which is maintained because it motivates the project
members and hence brings satisfaction from being associated with the project group.
The emphasis on project responsibility emanates from the results orientation
approach. It may also provide the basis for training of organizational members in the
various functional areas hence encourages the conceptual view of the organization.
Disadvantages of matrix structures:
-

There is greater need for interpersonal skills because the structure has a dual
reporting system.
- Tends to have role conflict like the project members have to perform two
different roles in the functional department as well as in the project, thus
creating conflict.
- Dual authority may promote conflict between project and functional leaders.
- The short term nature of projects may demotivate project members who may
have to go back to their routine functional tasks upon completion of projects.
- Tends to have high competition between project and functional managers for
resources, both human and material.
- At times creates personnel problems relating to re-designations, transfers,
especially if is of a short term nature.
3. Boundary less structures:
These are structures that are not defined by any arrangement limited to
artificial horizontal, vertical or external boundaries, eg virtual and network types
of organizations. Such structures are characterized by two boundaries;
Internal boundary ie horizontal boundaries imposed by work specialization
and departmentalization and the vertical ones that separates employees into
organizational levels

External boundary these are boundaries that separate the organization from
its customers, suppliers, and other stake holders. Therefore, to eliminate
these boundaries, managers may use virtual or network structural designs.
Note that a virtual organization consists of a small core of full time
employees and outside specialists temporarily hired as needed to work on
projects.
The main advantage is that it is highly flexible and responsive. It utilizes
talents wherever it is found. However, the major disadvantages are lack of
control and the communication channels are difficulty.

Challenges in organizational designs:

-

Keeping employees connected. That is how to keep widely dispersed and

mobile employees connected to the organization.
Building a learning organization; that is continuously learning, adapting and
changing to acquire new knowledge.
Managing global structural issues.

Tallstructures: a tall structure is one with many reporting levels. It may be thought
of as a bureaucratic structure. The main characteristic of the tall structure is that it
has a short span of control, that is there are fewer subordinates reporting to one
manager.
A flat structure: a flat structure on the other hand refers to one with relatively re
reporting levels. They are associated with a longer span of control. ie there are more
subordinates for each manage

LEADING
Leading can be defined as the process of guiding, directing and influencing task
related activities of organisational members to ensure that the organisation achieves
its objectives.
Leadership entails counselling, motivating and directing the efforts of the said
organizational members to ensure that the entitys pre-determined targets as
measured in terms of performance, etc. are accomplished.
In every organization there are two aspects that a leader must understand. These
are:
-

Visible aspects:
these include strategies, objectives, policies and
procedures, structure, technology, formal authority. The chain of command is
the iceberg.
Hidden/invisible aspects; these include the attitudes, perceptions group
norms, informal interactions, interpersonal and intergroup conflicts.

The visible and invisible aspects help the leader to understand organizational
behaviour. Organizational behaviour focuses on three major areas:
i.
ii.
iii.

Individual behaviour; ie observing peoples attitudes, personality,

perception, learning and motivation.
Group behaviour; include norms, roles, team building, leadership and
conflict.
Organizational aspects of the structure, culture, and human resource
policies and practices.

The purpose of organizational behaviour is to explain, predict, and influence

behaviour. In other words, a manager may have to explain why an employee behaves
in a certain way different from the other employees. Managers should be able to
predict how employees may respond to various actions and decisions,and to be able
to influence employee behaviour.

The kind of employee behaviour should be in terms of:

-

Productivity; ie efficiency and effectiveness

Absenteeism; ie the failure to show up for work. When the rate of
absenteeism is high, the organization may fail to progress and absenteeism
in general is costly to the organization.
Turnover; can be voluntary or involuntary. Ie is permanent withdrawal from
an organization. It leads to increased recruitment costs s well as training
costs. Organizations should try to retain employees, particularly those who
could be high performers.
organizational citizenship behaviour is the discretionary behaviour which
is not part of an employees formal job requirements but it promotes the
effective functioning of the organization like, volunteering for extended job
activities, making constructive statements about ones work group and the
organization as well as avoiding unnecessary conflicts. (stabilizers)
job satisfaction; ie an employees general attitude towards work. Note that
satisfied employees show higher levels of performance and stick with the
organization.
workplace misbehaviour;ie individual behaviour that has the potential of
misleading others and end up harming the organization. Four ways of
k2identifying behaviour that is misleading: deviance, aggression, antisocial
behaviour, and violence. Such behaviour can range from music to irritating
other workers to verbal aggression or sabotaging work and creating havoc in
the organization.

Hidden aspects in relation to visible aspects of behaviour:

ATTITUDES AND JOB PERFORMANCE:
-

An attitude is an evaluative action which could either be favourable or

unfavourable concerning people, or events or objects. It reflects individual
feelings about something. There are three components of attitude;
Cognitive component: which refers to the beliefs, opinion, knowledge, or
information held by a person. Eg. Misappropriation of company property is
wrong.
Affect component: of the attitude is the emotional or feeling; eg I do not
like . Because he discriminates.
Behaviour component: this is a reflection of the affect component. It is an
intention to behave in a certain way because of something.

As a manager, it is important to note that organizational managers are not only

interested in every employees attitude, but are interested in job
related attitudes which are; job satisfaction, job involvement,
organizational commitment and employee engagement.

In other words, good leaders may want to know how satisfied the employees
are because satisfaction increases output. How can you know that workers
are satisfies?
Workers who aresatisfied do not miss from work
unnecessarily, and there is less turnover.
Also, satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly, upbeat, and
responsive which customers appreciate. It is also believed that employees
who are satisfied, increases customer satisfaction and loyalty, hence
customer retention. Above all, satisfied employees are likely to speak well
about the organization. Hence, when there is some unfairness of some sort in
the organization, job satisfaction of the individual suffers.
The three other related job attitudes are:
i.

Job involvement: ie the degree to which an employee identifies with

his/her job, actively participates and considers it to be important to ones self
worth. You will notice, that those with high levels of involvement, they
strongly identify with and care about the kind of work they do. Thus,
fewer absences, lower resignation rates and higher employee engagement.
Organizational commitment: is the degree to which one identifies with
the organization and wishes to maintain membership. Such employees
believe that the organization values their contribution and cares about their
well being.
Employee engagement: means that employees need to be connected to,
satisfied, and enthusiastic about their jobs. For example, highly engaged
employees are likely to show passion about the organization and are deeply
connected to their work. Most of them are likely to be top performers.
Note that, organizations with highly engaged employees have high
retention rates thus training costs and recruitment costs are very
low.

ii.

iii.

Attitude and consistency:

workers in most cases seek consistence
among their attitudes and between their attitudes and behaviour. They
reconcile differing attitudes and align their attitudes and behaviour so that
they can appear rational and consistent. When there is inconsistency,
individuals may do something to make it consistent by altering the attitudes,
altering the behaviour or rationalizing the inconsistency.

Personality and behaviour:

Personality may mean a combination of emotional thought and behavioural patterns
that affect how a person reacts to situations and interacts with others. It affects how
and why people behave the way they do. Therefore, managers are encouragedto
understand each individuals personality by understanding the temperaments that
influence them. For example, introvert personality will not behave in the same way

like the extrovert,eg an extrovert is energetic, lively and sociable, is rarely silent or
withdrawn. Neither would a melachone behave like
Approaches used to the study of leadership are:
i.

The trait approach: it is a theory that seeks to identify

certain
characteristics that separate effective from ineffective managers.
Characteristics such as; physical appearance, weight, height, intelligence,
aptitude, personal charisma, etc. in other words, this approach attempts to
judgethe effectiveness of leadership by the personal characteristics
of the leader. The theory focuses at seven traits that are associated with
leadership; egdrive,desire to lead, honesty and integrity, self
confidence, and jobrelevantknowledge about the company or
industry.Although predictability; may be used to explain the effectiveness
of leaders, it seems to have failed to prove itself in practical real life
situations. However, some trait may be used to separate a manager
from a leader.
Eg;
an effective political leader may be
distinguishable from others by virtue ofcharisma and personal charm.
Also, a manager at a gym for instance would be expected to have a muscular
body, while a manager of a fashion shop would be expected to exhibit an
impeccable attire. Some studies singled out intelligence, initiative and self
assurance as likely qualities of effective leadership, but intelligence may
not be as important as supervisoryskills or the persons ability to match
requirements of the situation.
The behavioural approach to leadership:
This is an approach that attempts to explain what effective leaders do in
order to influence employee behaviour. It focuses on leadership styles; for
example; autocratic, democratic, laisserz-faire, etc. out of these three
leadership styles, a democratic style seems to be the best method of
leadership.
The major advantage of behaviours over traits is that
behaviour can be learnt. Ie with adequate training, the leaders behaviour
could be altered.

ii.

There are two aspects of leadership behaviour:

Leadershipfunction:
this is a term used to analyse the leaders
behaviour in terms of whether it is task related problem solving
or group maintenance social function. Note that an effective leader
would be the one who is able to blend the two successfully.
Leadershipstyle: these are various behaviour patterns favoured by leaders
during the process of directing and influencing subordinates.Managers with a
task orientated style closelysupervise subordinates to make sure that the
tasks assigned to them are carried out. To a task oriented leader, there is no
or less emphasis to the employees welfare, growth or satisfaction.

The employee orientated management style, emphasises the

motivation of the subordinate as opposed to control. The leaders
strives to build a friendly, trusting relationship with the subordinate
and allows subordinates to participate in decision making especially
to issues that affect them.

iii.

iv.

Note that there are various theorists who attempted to explain leadership
according to behavioural school: one of them is known as the
OhioExperiment In this study, the distinction was between the
initiatingstructure(task behaviour) and consideration (regarding for
employees).
The initiating structures refers to the extent to which a leader defined
his/her role and the roles of group members in attaining goals.
Consideration, is the dimension that defines the extent to which a leader
had work relationships characterized by mutual trust and respect for group
members ideas and feelings. In other words, a leader who has high
consideration, helps his group members with personal problems, is
friendly, and approachable and treated all group members as
equal.Ie showing concern for the followers, comforting them, etc.
The conclusions are that leaders who take initiatives and considerate to the
followers tend to be good leaders.
The other approach is known as the
ManagerialGrid university students, R Blake and Jane Mouton. the
focus was in distinguishing between employee orientated and task orientated
behaviour of managers. The employee oriented leaders emphasizes
interpersonal relationships while the task oriented leaders emphasize
the importance of jobs. Still, the managerial grid did not explain an effective
leader although a balance would produce better results.

The other approach was known as

v.

Theory X and Y by Douglas Mcgregor; this approach concentrates on

the argument that leadership behaviour depends on how the manager views
subordinates:
A Theory X manageris tough, autocratic and supports
tight controls with punishment rewardsystems. He believes that the
human being is lazy by nature and has to be pushed to attain high levels of
production. Therefore, those who dislike work, requires cohesion, avoids
responsibility and only seeks authority. A theory Ymanager, is the
optimistic and positive view of man. He sees workers as those who derive
intrinsic motivation from work and is self sufficient. Man is viewed as
someone who loves challenging and responsible tasks.

That means a theory Y manager would be equated to an employee oriented

relationship in management.
vi.

The contingency theories of leadership:

These observed leadership as situational. They viewed leaders as the product of any
given situation. In other words, leaders are strongly influenced by the situational
factors which leader emerges and in which he/she operates
The situational factors which were identified were;
-

Leadership personality and experience; these include past experiences,

expectations and standard of education.
Expectations and behaviour of superiors; originates from the fact that
superiors are usually the ones to review the leaders performance. Use of
reward power by the superior, implies that they can influence the leadership
behaviour of subordinates.
Expectations and behaviour of subordinates; these may include training
and skills, attitudes, confidence, degree of self motivation, desire for
responsible tasks and preferable leadership style.
Task requirements; these are job responsibilities of the subordinates. Eg
jobs requiring precise instruction would tend to warrant task oriented
approaches.
Organizational culture; ie shared beliefs etc
Expectations of employees and behaviour of peers; ie peer pressure
may influence a particular manager to adopt the leadership style advocated
by peers.

There are three theories in this category; these attempt to explain the leaders who
failed to achieve greatness because they failed to understand the context they were
operating in.
i.

The fielder model proposes that effective group performance depends

on properly matching the leaders style and the amount of control and
influence in the situation. Ie effectiveness is situational. And it depends on
the following factors;
Leaders followers relationship; eg a manager who is disliked by
subordinates may thus choose to use formal authority which may entail
issuing directives and compelling members to exert themselves.
Task structure: a highly structured task is one involving step by step
procedures. The written instructions gives the manager a lot of authority and
in turn gives rise to the task orientated approach. If tasks are largely
unstructured as in committees, the appropriate leadership style is the
employee oriented approach.

ii.

The leaders position power: ie power position influences authority, eg

the CEO may have more power than a dean.
The path goal theory: states that the leaders duty is to assist followers in
attaining their goals and to provide direction or support needed to ensure
that the goals are compatible with the organizations. that means effective
leaders clarify the path to help their followers achieve the objectives. It
becomes easier to achieve the objectives when leaders reduce the
roadblocks and pitfalls. There are four behaviours portrayed in this theory:
Directive leader:ie as a leader you let your subordinates know what is
expected of them by scheduling the work to be done, give specific guidance
on how to accomplish tasks.
Supportive leader: show concern for the needs of followers and is friendly.
Participative leader: the leader consults with the group members and
uses their suggestions before making a decision.
Achievement oriented leaders: the leader sets challenging goals and
expect followers to perform at their highest level.

The Path Goaltheory, portraysa leaders as a flexible person and can display any or all
of the leadership styles depending on the situation.
It further explains that
leadership behaviour can be moderated by the situation or contingency variables like
the, environment. The theory further proposes that a leaders behaviour wont be
effective if it is redundant with what the environmental structure is providing or is
congruent with followers characteristics. Eg. Giving directives to a group that is well
experienced and capable, your efforts may be perceived as redundant, ie your group
does not need a leader to tell them what to do. Directives may be welcome when the
organization is experiencing conflict. Ie will need a leader who would give them
charge.
iii.

The leadership life cycle model by Hersey and Blanchard.

It focuses on the followers readiness to either accept or reject the leader. Ie no

matter what the leader does, the groups effectiveness depends on the actions of
the followers;
-

Readiness refers to the extent to which people have the ability and
willingness to accomplish a specific task. Eg the leader defines roles and
tells people what, how, when and where to do various tasks. Eg telling.
Also, the leader provides both directive and supportive behaviour ie
selling. The leader and followers share in decision making ie the role of
the leader is facilitating and communicating, ie participating.
And
delegating; ie the leader provides little direction or support.

This theory implies that; the leader uses the telling method when workers are both
unable and unwilling to take responsibility for doing something. Ie followers are not

confident not competent. The leader also, uses the selling method when followers
are unable although willing to do the job tasks, ie followers would be motivated but
lack the appropriateskills.
The participation method applies when followers are able but unwilling to do what
the leader wantsie you have competent workers who do not want to do something.
And finally, you delegate your work when the people you are leading are both able to
do and are willing to do what is asked for them.

Other additional factors that help predict behaviour are;

-

The locus of control: the belief that you are a master of your own fate.
Machiavellianism; the degree to which people are pragmatic, maintain
emotional distance and believe that ends justify means.
Self esteem; the degree to which people like themselves.
Self monitoring:ie the individuals ability to adjust behaviour to external
situational factors. People with high self monitoring show considerable
adaptability in adjusting their behaviour and they are sensitive to external
cues and can behave differently in different situations.

Note that, low self monitors cannot adjust their behaviour, instead they tend to
display their true dispositions and attitude in every situation and there is high
behavioural consistency between who they are and what they do.
-

Risk taking:ie differences in propensity to assume or to avoid risk. It shows

how long it takes managers to make decisions and how much information
they require before making a decision.
Proactive personality:ie how people identity opportunities, how initiative,
and take action and persevere until meaningful change occurs.
Emotions: these are the intense feelings that are directed at someone/or
something. They are object specific like anger, fear, sadness, happiness,
disgust, and surprise.

The contemporary views of leadership:

These are the latest views of leadership:
1. Transformational-transactional leadership; the transactional leaders are
viewed as leaders who lead by using social exchange ie transactions. They
guide and motivate followers to work towards established goals by exchanging
rewards for their productivity.
The transformational leaders are viewed as leaders who stimulate and inspire
ie transform followers to achieve extraordinary outcomes. They pay attention to
the concerns and developmental need of individual followers. They encourage

followers to see the positive side of the problems and are able to excite, arouse,
and inspire the followers.
Transformational leaders produces levels of employees efforts and performance that
go beyond what would occur with a transactional approach alone. They in still in the
followers the ability to question views by their leadership style.
2. Charismatic visionary leadership: portrays enthusiastic, self-control, selfconfident personality and have actions that influence people to behave in a
certain way. They have vision and are able to articulate that vision, willing to
take risk, sensitive to the environmental constraints, etc.
(from our African continent which leaders would be classify
under this category?

MOTIVATION
Motivation refers to the forces that drive human beings to behave in a certain way.
It can also be defined as the innerstate of mind that arouses, energises channels and
sustains behaviour.
It may also mean the mental process of human decision making.
It is an act that seeks to understand why human beings behave the way they do and
how to influence and reinforce their behaviour in such a way as to help achieve
organisational objectives.
Note that the motivation is part of the overall managerial leadership role.
several views on motivation, some of them are as follows:

There

1. The traditional model

The view is associated with Frederick W. Taylor, the father of mass production
and his scientificmanagement approach. In this view, managers worked out
the best man machine combination that would yield efficient production and
then worked out an appropriate incentive scheme for the workers.
In an
industrial setting where there are repetitive tasks, emphasis on mass
production yielded efficiency. The assumption was that man is motivated by
economic gain in the form of pay increases to attain higher level of production.
This view of man came to be known as the rational economic man concept.
2. The human relations models: by E Mayo. The discovery was that boredom
and stress relating to performing repetitive tasks caused lower performance
levels.

Management had to make employees lives at work worthwhile by addressing their

social needs. The concept was one of the social view of subordinates or the social
man concept. Emphasis was on giving subordinates some freedom to make job
related decisions. Informal work groups were also studied by this group of
researchers and the conclusion was that management should give informal groups
a greater say in the organizational setting. However, management still maintained
decision making power and subordinates were expected to accept that authority
and implement managerial decisions.
This group also studied the effects of informal group. Informal group induces
pressure on the performance of the individual, it was concluded that the group had
in some instances, more influence than the manager. And thus managers should
use groups effectively.
3. The behavioural school :the discovery was that both traditional and human
relations models failed to fully explain what motivates human behaviour. They
emphasised on only one or two factors and did not give sufficient coverage of
the other factors. In this school, they believed that the human being had
initiative and enjoyed work itself without necessarily having to be pushed to
perform.
The classification of behavioural motivation theories:
Motivation can be classified into three.
1. Content theories: which focus on the human needs that motivate behaviour.
This category has the Maslows hierarchy of needs, the factor theory and the
achievement motivation.
2. The process theories: the emphasis here is on the goals which motivate
individuals and the thought process that goes into motivation. In this category
we have the expectancy model, and the equity/inequity theory of motivation.
3. Reinforcement theory: emphasises that human behaviour is conditioned by
consequences.
Lets now have a close analysis of these motivational theories:
a. The Maslows hierarchy of needs which explains the relative importance of
needs in human beings. He came up with the following:
- Physiological needs these are innate you cannot do without them, eg food,
shelter, etc
- Security needs: the need to avoid harm, pain, danger, and deprivation
- Affiliation/belongingness or social needs: ie need for love or
companionship. Social needs include among others the need for love and
affection belongingness and affiliation. This may translate into the need to
form and belong to social groups suchas congregations, marriage

ceremonies, etc. the social needs have to be satisfied only after the
physiological and safety needs. The above three needs are at times referred
to as the lower level needs. One common thing about them is that they
can easily be satisfied .(there are usually in a physical upper limit as to their
satisfaction).
Esteem needs: these are psychological needs from a persons inner self.
May include need to be praised and need for recognition, achievement,
competence and status. It is from these that people drive pride.
Self-actualization needs: the needs to realize ones full potential and
utilise ones capabilities. May incorporate the need for challenging tasks,
advancement and growth. They can also be known as the higher order
needs or egoistic needs. These cannot be fully satisfied. Eg people always
want some more praise and recognition.

Maslow suggests that the manager could address the egoistic needs by giving
subordinates more challengingtasks and assignments as well as by
personal encouragement and involvement. Subordinates need to feel
important and they need to be given jobs that yield a feeling of importance.
And therefore, an effective leader and good motivator should concentrate on
addressing the subordinates higher order needs only if he/she has addressed
the basic needs.
In support of Maslows hierarchy of needs some maintain that it offers a
reasonable explanation of human behaviour, egthe teachers retreat trip to
Cape town, would motivate managing directors and others who have
satisfied the lower order needs more than a general hand employee
who still has to satisfy the basic human needs of hunger shelter, etc.

The two factor theory by Frederick Herzberg:

May also be known as motivationhygienetheory. The findings were based on
feedback from about two hundred accountants and engineers about unsatisfactory
and satisfactory feelings on the job.
According to this theory: motivational factors can be divided into two broad
categories. The first group of circumstances were called hygiene or
maintenancefactors or dissatisfies. The theory explains that an improvement in
these would not lead to improved productivity but neither would it lead to reduced
production.
And thus any reduction in these factors would lead to reduced
performance levels, hence giving rise to the name dissatisfies.

The implication is that managers should not reduce hygiene factors or else
risk the negative effects of reduced productivity and lower employee
morale. The hygiene factors include;
-

Company policy and administration

Supervision
Relationships with supervisors
Working conditions
Salary
Relationship with subordinates
Personal life
Relationship with peers
Status and security

The term maintenance factor is used because these factors do not significantly
affect motivation but are necessary to maintain hygiene within the working
environment. In other words, these factors were the basic levels necessary to
maintain certain levels of performance.
In addition, the satisfiers or motivators boosted production each time their quantities
were increased. Therefore, management should concentrate on satisfiers or drivers
to maximise the benefits from motivation. Typical motivators entails the following:
-

Achievement,
recognition,
work itself,
responsibility and
advancement.

Also, dissatisfies save to prevent dissatisfaction for as long as they are at or

above the minimum levels, when they fall below the critical level, then they
will have a negative impact on motivation.

Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation:

-

Intrinsic motivation is said to exist when the employees derives

satisfaction from work itself usually through feedback systems, whole work
units direct client relationship, autonomy, task identity and significance and
recognition.
Intrinsic motivation is satisfaction that actually occurs as someone is doing
the job and emanates and originates directly from performing the job.
Intrinsic motivation is consumed simultaneously as the employee is
actually doing the job, it can be directly applied to Herzbeg;s two factor
theory of motivators/satisfiers they relate directly to the job.

Extrinsic motivation is satisfaction that is derived indirectly eg satisfaction

derived from the benefits from work as exposed to work itself. For-instance,
workers may not enjoy their jobs as such but enjoy spending money earned
from work. Egfactors like status, conditions of service are examples of
extrinsic motivators because they are not directly related to the job
itself.
Ie extrinsic motivators are closely related to maintenance
factors, hygiene factors and dissatisfies.

Achievement theory of motivation:

by David Maclellands

States that different people are motivated by different circumstances and categorises
people into:
-

Those with a high need for achievement (n-Ach)

Those with a high need for power (n-Pow)
Those with a high need for affiliation (n-Aff)

Note that people with high need for achievement would be motivated by;
-

Challenging and competitive work situations

Satisfying, stimulating and complex work
Autonomy and variety of tasks
Constant feedback from clients and or superiors

People with high need for power are motivated by tasks that give them more
responsibility and autonomy as well as authority. However, some of the employees
with high need for power, may not necessarily be high achievers.
The implication is that, managers who want to motivate their workers must
first of all establish whether the employee has a high need in power or in
affiliation, or in achievement. And then create an atmosphere in which the
employees can be motivated by these relevant needs.
The process theories/expectancy model by Victor Vroom:
The model maintains that the effort to achieve a high performance depends on the
perceived likelihood that high performance will be rewarded and the reward worth the
effort. It has the following elements:
-

Expectancy is performance outcome. Ie the perception that performance

will yield the desired outcome.
Effort performance expectancy: the perceived probability that the effort will
result in desirer able performance.
Valence: is the motivating power of a particular outcome. in this case is the
reward.

Implying that an employee will be motivated to perform if he perceives that if he

makes an effort he will achieve the particular target, and if he does achieve that
target, he will be rewarded and subsequently the reward will be worth the effort. The
employees behaviour would therefore, be influenced by those factors.
The equity theory; by Adams:
It concentrates on the relationship between:
-

The employees reward relative to his performance and someone elses

(performance) and relative to his peers/colleagues.

There are three components in the model, namely: the individuals inputs in the
form of effort, experience, competence and other personal attributes. Output that
is the individual gets from employment , these may take the form of rewards, mainly
money, recognition, promotion, etc.
-

The reference group or person which is the group or person against whom
the individual compares his input/output ratio.If there is an imbalance the
employee may consider raising or lowering his input to balance the
disequilibrium.

If this reward is greater (by his standards) he will justify this by increasing his
performance.
-

The individual could also influence others to alter their performance so as to

regain equilibrium. If all effort fails to improve the ratio, the employee may
consider leaving the organization outright.

This shows that, rewards can only motivate staff if they are perceived to be fair and
equitable.
The equity theory recognises that individuals are concerned not only with their
absolute pay (reward) but also with the relationship of these rewards to what others
receive.
The reinforcement theory
In this theory the emphasis is on how consequences should shape behaviour. Ie
behaviour yielding unpleasant results will most likely not be repeated. Ie human
behaviour is moulded by consequences.
Positive reinforcement is the use of reward system to encourage desirable
behaviour while avoidance of undesirable consequences is another reinforcement
mechanism.

Negative reinforcement occurs when an individual is punished for undesirable

behaviour. Alternatively, you can use extinctioneg not rewarding someone for
something which would previously have earned them a reward.
GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE MOTIVATION:
1. Recognize individual differences: employees are not homogeneous. They
have different needs attitudes, personalities, etctherefore, the motivation
system should incorporate these differences.
2. Match people to jobs: the right people should be assigned to the right jobs.
Put people into jobs over which they are known to have intrinsic interest.
3. Use goals: effective use of goals boosts motivation: goals should be SMART
4. Individual rewards: it should be in accordance with differences in need
patterns. Ie managers must effectively use their knowledge of the subordinates
5. Rewards should be linked to performance:
and should ideally be
transparent.
6. Check the system for equity: rewards should be perceived by employees to
be relative to inputs. Differences in outputs outcomes rewards, should easily
be explained in terms of experience, effort, education, skills and other inputs.
7. Do not disregard the role of money: note that money is still a motivator,
managers should still incorporate money into reward packages. Eg performance
based payments in the industrial sector.
Job design theory:
This is the way how tasks are combined to form complete jobs. Jobs must be designed
to reflect the demand of changing environment, technology and employee skills,
abilities and preferences.
Ways of designing jobs:
1. Job enrichment: it is a vertical expansion of a job by adding planning and
evaluating responsibilities. It increases job depth which is the degree of control
that employees have over their work. Employees are empowered to assume of
the duties done by their managers. In job enrichment there is freedom of
independence, and responsibility and workers get feed back so they can assess
and correct their performance.
2. Job enlargement: involves expanding jobs horizontally through increased job
scope eg you increase the number of different tasks required in a job and the
frequency with those tasks are repeated. Job enlargement leads to more job
satisfaction, enhanced customer service and high moral.
3. Job characteristics model: it identifies five core job dimensions, their inter
relationships, and their impact on employee productivity, motivation and
satisfaction. These core dimensions are;

Skills variety; the degree to which a job requires a variety of activities so

that an employee can use a number of different skills and talents.
Task identity: the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on the
lives or work of other people.
Task significance: the degree to which a job has a substantial impact on
the lives or work of other people.
Autonomy:ie the degree to which a job provides substantial freedom,
independence and secretion to an individual in scheduling work and
determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out.
Feedback:ie obtaining direct and clear information about the effectiveness
of his or her performance.

This shows that if skill variety, task identity and task significance are combined
in a job, the employees is likely to view his/her job as being important, valuable,
and worthwhile. Whereas, jobs that posses autonomy give the job holder a
feeling of personal responsibility for the results. Above all, a job that provides
feedback will allow the employee to know how effective he/she us performing.

CO-ORDINATION:
It is the process of integrating the objectives and activities of subunits of an
organization to achieve the organizational objectives.
It may also be thought of as the extent to which organizations sub units depend on
each other or the extent to which these activities are synchronised.
There are three forms of coordination:
-

Pooled inter-dependence which occurs when sub-units depend upon each

other for their very survival.
Sequential interdependence: it would occur if one unit must act before
the other. Eg output from one sub unit is input for the other.
Reciprocal interdependence: involves a give and take relationship. Thus
the units mutually depend on each other.

Coordination can be improved through the following methods:

1. Using basic management techniques:
- The managerial hierarchy:
the hierarchy facilitates the flow of
information. It is the source of standardisation and thus reliance on it may
foster co ordination.
- Establishing rules and procedures: this enforces a common way of doing
things among the sub units, leading to better coordination and consistency.
- Use of goals and plans: ie if sub units work towards a common goal, this
ensures that their actions are synchronised .

2. Increasing the need for co-ordination through: committees, meetings and

task forces.
Ie the organization as a whole could have a co-ordinating
committee which is composed of members from various sub-units which meets
regularly to review effectiveness of co-ordination.
3. Reducing the need for co-ordination:
can be achieved through the
following:
Creating autonomous units: iesub-units are structured such that they
become stand alone units so that there is inter-dependence among them ,
thus eliminating the need for co-ordination.
- Creating slack resources: slack resources are excess resources. The aim
of creating such resources is to ensure that each sub-unit has all the
resources it needs to undertake its functions without the need to share
resources with others.
Co-ordinating principles:
1. Unity of commandie each person must report to one boss in order to minimize
conflict.
2. The scalar principle: ie there should be a clear and unbroken chain of
command to link every person with someone at a higher level.
3. The span of management principle: refers to a number of subordinates
directly reporting to one superior.
Factors influencing the size of a span.
- The competence of both subordinates and boss.If the subordinates are
more competent, then they will need less supervision in which case the
manager could afford a larger span. At the same time if the manager were
incompetent, then a smaller span would be more appropriate.
- Similarity or dissimilarity of work supervised. Ie if the tasks performed
by the various subordinates are similar, then the larger span is manageable.
- Incidence of new problems in managers department: ie if the manager
is not likely to encounter any significant number of new problems in his
department, then he would be able to handle a larger span. This is because
when the problems are routine and predictable, then the manager is in a
better position to handle them. that means he will be able to supervise
larger number of problems.
- Extent of clear operating standards, policies and manuals/rules: ie
where clear policies and procedures are in place, then the subordinates
would not need that much close supervision. Consequently, a wider span of
control is within the managers capacity.
- In situations where greater co-ordination is required then, a smaller
span would be more logical.
- When more planning is required to be done by the supervisor, it suggests
that smaller span would be ideal.

If functions call for a wide geographic coverage, then a smaller span would
be the most practical.
More assistance may be associated with a larger span and vice versa.

COMMUNICATION:
Communication is the transfer of, and understanding meaning. For example, a writer
who has not written and published, he has not yet communicated. The emphasis in
communication is the transfer. Also, communication involves the understanding of
meaning. Therefore, for communication to be effective it must be transferred and
understood. That means unless a common understanding results from the
transmission of verbal or nonverbal symbols, there is no communication.
In other words, for communication to be successful it must be imparted and
understood. Further, communication encompasses both interpersonal communication
and organizational communication. Note that both interpersonal and organizational
communication are important to the manager.
Functions of communication:
-

Control employee behaviour

Motivates by clarifying to employees what is to be done, how well they are
doing and what can be done to improve performance.
emotional expression, it provides a release for emotional expressions of
feelings and for fulfilment of social needs.
To inform, everyone needs information to get things done.

Elements of communication are:

-

Message: is what the individual hopes to communicate. Note that managers

have numerous purposes for communicating, such as to have others
understand their ideas, to understand the ideas of others, to gain acceptance
of ideas, and to produce action. Therefore, to be effective, it is essential that
a message contain all the facts communicators what necessary for the
desired effect. at the same time the exact form that the message takes
depends to a great extent on the medium used to carry it.
Medium: this is the carrier of the message.
Organizations provide
information for their members by a variety of channels, including face to face
communication, telephone, group meetings, computers, memos, policy
statements, reward systems, production schedules, sales forecasts, and
videotapes.

Receiver: effective communication requires that the communicator

anticipates the receivers decoding ability, to know where the receiver comes
from. Effective communication is receiver oriented, not media oriented.
Note that telling is not teaching when the teacher uses language that the
student cannot understand ie communication has not taken place, for
example engineers cannot expect to communicate to nonengineers if the
symbols they use are beyond the receivers training and ability to
comprehend.
Decoding: decoding is a technical term for the thought process f the
receiver. It involves interpretation.
Receivers interpret (decode) the
message in light of their own previous experiences and frames of reference.
For example, the closer the decoded message is to the intent of the
communicator, the more effective is the communication. That means, in an
organization, if the message that the chief executive receives from the
marketing research department includes technical terms known only to
marketing researchers, no communication exists. It is therefore, mandatory
that all organizations take steps to ensure that all employees possess the
skills necessary to effectively decode messages, for regardless of the
communicators intent, it is the interpretation of the receiver that will dictate
ensuing actions.
Sender, encoding: encoding is a process of translating the communicators
ideas into a systematic set of symbols expressing the communicators
purpose. The major form of encoding is language. For instance, accounting
information, sales, reports, and computer data are translated into a message.
The function of encoding is to provide a form in which ideas and purposes
can be expressed as a message.
Noise: refers to any interfering factor that if present, can distort the
intended message. It can be present in any element.
Feedback: there must be a provision for feedback in the communication
process. Productive managers effectively communicate by not only sending
messages, but by drawing out employees thoughts, ideas, and feelings. A
feedback loop provides a channel for receiver response, enabling the
communicator to determine whatever the message has been properly
received and has produced the intended response. Also, note that feedback
comes in many forms. Eg in face to face situations, direct feedback is
possible through verbal exchanges as well as through such subtle mans as
facial expressions that indicate discontent or confusion.
Also,
communication breakdowns may be indicated by indirect means, such as
declines in productivity, poor quality of production, increased absenteeism or
turnover, and conflict or a lack of coordination between units.

An important part of interpersonal communication is nonverbalcommunication. It

involves communication passed without words. Out of all the forms of nonverbal
communication, the best known types are body language and verbal intonation.
-

bodylanguage refers to gestures, facial expressions, and other body

movements that convey meaning.
Verbalintonation refers to the emphasis someone gives to words or
phrases that conveys meaning.

In management, we should always remember that as we communicate, the nonverbal

component usually carries the greatest impact. It is not what you say, but how you
say it.
Organizational communication: involves
-

Formal versus informal communication:

The flow patterns of communication
Formal and informal communication networks

Formal communication refers to communication that takes place within prescribed

organizational work arrangements, eg instructions from the supervisor or manager, or
an employee communicating a problem to the supervisor or manager.
Informal communication: it is communication that is not defined by organizational
structural hierarchy, eg tea break communication or lunch time communication
among employees.
The purpose of informal communication is to:
-

Permit employees to satisfy their need for social interaction

It improves an organizations performance by creating alternative and
frequently faster and more efficient, channels of communication.

Organizational communication can flow both downward and upwards, horizontally and
diagonally.
Downwardcommunication is any communication that flows from manager to
employees. For example, giving instructions on some job tasks or when giving
information on the developments of the organization. Etc.
Upwardcommunication applies when information flows from employees to
managers. Most of this information is in form of reports which give feed back to
decision makers.
Eg the sales reports, suggestion box messages, grievance
procedures etc.
How much information should go up, depends on the organizational culture. If
management have created a climate of trust and respect and use participative

decision making or empowerment, there will be considerable upward communication.

Because all employees will feel like they are part of the organization. However, in a
highly structured and authoritarian environment, upward communication may be
limited.
Lateral or horizontalcommunication takes place among employees on the same
organisational level.
This kind of communication is necessary to facilitate
coordination. However, conflict may arise if the employees do not inform their
managers on the decisions that they would have made.
Diagonalcommunication is the kind of communication that crosses both work areas
of organizational levels. It touches different organizational levels.
Organizationalcommunicationnetworks: this is a combination of both vertical and
horizontal flows of communication. It takes the form of chain commands wheel
networks represents communication flowing between a clearly identifiable and strong
leader and others in a work group or team.
Interpersonal communications:
This is information that flows from individual to individual in face to face and group
settings. Such flows vary in form from direct orders to casual expressions. The
primary manner in which managers relate to and learn from people in their
environment is through interpersonal communication information that the managers
receive from and transmit to individuals with whom they interact, and the way in
which managers receive and transmit information depends in part on how they relate
to two very important senders of information, themselves and others

Regions of information: there are four regions of information known and unknown
by the self and others:
a. The arena: this is the region most conducive for effective interpersonal
communication. The arena is the area of common understanding. In this setting
all the information necessary to carry on effective communication is known to
both the communicator (self) and the receivers (others). For a communication
attempt to be in the arena region, the parties involved much share feelings,
data, assumptions, and skills.
b. The blind spot: it is a situation where by relevant information is known to
others but not to the self. In this context, one is at a disadvantage when
communicating with others, because one cannot know their feelings,
sentiments, and perceptions. As a result interpersonal communications suffers.
The blind sport presents an interpersonal handicap for the self, since one hardly
can understand the behaviour, decisions, or potentials of others without having

data on which these are based. Others have the advantage of knowing their
own feelings, while the self is unaware of these.
c. The faade: when information is known to the self but unknown to others, a
person (self) may resort to superficial communications that is, present a false
front or faade. This situation is particularly damaging when a subordinate
knows and an immediate supervisor does not know. The faade, like a blind
spot, diminishes the arena and reduces the possibility of effective
communication.
d. The unknown:
this region constitutes that portion where the relevant
information is not known by the self or by other parties to the relationship: eg I
dont understand them, and they dont understand me. It is easy to see that
under such circumstances, interpersonal communication will be poor. The
unknown area often occurs in organizations when individuals in different
specialities must coordinate what they do through communications.
Therefore, to improve communication an individual must utilize two strategies
known as the exposure and the feedback.
-

Exposure is increasing the arena by reducing the faade it requires that the
individual be open and honest in sharing information with others. The
process that the self uses to increase the information known to others is
called exposure because it leaves the self in a sometimes vulnerable
position. exposing ones true feelings, telling it like it is, often involves
risks.
Feedback: when the self does not know or understand, more effective
communications can be developed through feedback from those who do
know. Thus, the blind spot can be reduced with a corresponding increase in
the arena. Note that, whatever the use of feedback is possible depends on
the individuals willingness to hear it and on the willingness of others to give
it. The individual is less able to control the obtaining of feedback than the
provision of exposure. Obtaining feedback is dependent on the active
cooperation of others, while exposure requires the active behaviour of the
self and listening of others.

Thegrapevine is active in almost every organization. This is a very important source

of information to management. It acts as a filter and feedback mechanism.
Managers are advised to analyse what is happening on the grape vine. What
information is passed and how it flows and what individuals seem to be key
information conduits. It helps management to identify information that concerns
workers and management may use the grape vine to disseminate information.
Barrierstocommunication:

1. Filtering: ie the deliberate manipulation of information to make it appear more

favourable to the receiver. It is common in upward communication in
organizations. subordinates cover u unfavourable information in messages to
their superiors. The reason for such filtering should be clear.
Upward
communications carry control information to management. Management makes
merit evaluations, grants salary increases, and promotes individuals based on
what is received by way of the upward channel.
2. Valuejudgement: it assigning an overall worth to a message prior to receiving
the entire communication. Such value judgements may be based on the
receivers evaluation of the communicator, the receiver previous experiences
with the communicator, or the messages anticipated meaning. For example, if
you that kind of a person who is ever complaining, even on the day when you
will be raising a meaningful point, you likely not to be heard/or understood.
3. Different perceptions: perception is how the person views the message.
People always make an interpretation, like what does communicator mean?
Different interpretations may cause fatal accidents.
4. Selective perception: selective perception takes place when people block out
new information, especially when it conflicts with what they believe. In other
words, when people receive information they are likely to hear only those parts
that conform to or reaffirm their beliefs.
Information that conflicts with
preconceived notions is either not processed or is distorted to confirm our
preconceptions. For instance, a notice about salary rise, will be noticed by
almost every worker, but a notice about cutting down costs may not achieve its
desired effect because it conflicts with the reality of the receiver.
Also,
selective perception results in stereotyping; when an individual has
preconceived ideas about other people and refuses to discriminate between
individual behaviour, that person is applying selective perception to
relationships with other people.
Therefore, stereotyping is a barrier to
communication because those who stereotype others use selective perception
in their communications and tend to hear only those things that confirm their
stereotyped images. For example, some men stereotype successful females.
5. Poor communication skills: some people can hear but cannot listen to what
the person is saying. Failing to listen may result from a host of personal habits.
(we speak at the rate of 100 to 200 words a minute, read at two or three times
our speaking rate, and think several times faster than we read) as a result, a
listener can move through a discussion much faster than can a speaker.
Because of the speed involved we develop poor listening habits. Failing to listen
to the other hinders the objectives of the discussion, feedback session or job
instruction are not accomplished.
6. Information over load: this is excess information. When you are bombarded
with too much data you might not absorb or adequately respond to all the
messages directed to you. You might end up screening out the majority of
messages, which means that these messages are never decoded. From the

organization point of view, organizational communication is one in which more is

not always better, rather the goal of organizations should be to implement
communication systems that ensure that the proper information flows to those
who need it and not to those who dont.
7. Semantic problems: ie failure to understand what the communicator is trying
to communicate. Remember communication is the transmission of information
and understanding through the use of common symbols. We cannot transmit
understanding, we can only transmit information in the form of words, which are
the common symbols. Unfortunately, the same words may mean entirely
different things to different people. the understanding is in the receiver, not in
the words. Therefore, managers must pay close attention to how they describe,
both in verbal communication and in written communication, desired actions
they want to see take place.
8. Source credibility: it refers to the trust, confidence, and faith that the receiver
has in the words and actions of the communicator. The level of credibility that
the receiver assigns to the communicator directly affects how the receiver views
and reacts to the words, ideas, and actions of the communicator. That means
how subordinates view a communication from their manager is affected by their
evaluations of the manager. The degree of credibility they attach to the
communication is heavily influenced by their previous experiences with the
manager. That means, if a manager is not honest, is manipulative, and not to be
trusted, are likely to assign negative motives to any communication.
9. Time pressure: an obvious problem is that managers do not have the time to
communicate frequently with every subordinate. Time pressures can lead to
serious problems. Short circuiting is a failure of the formally prescribed
communications system that often results from time pressures. What is means
is that someone who normally would be included has been left out of the formal
channel of communication. For example, a rushed order needed by a customer
forces the production personal to put aside all other orders that where
submitted earlier and attend to this particular request.
How can communication be improved in organizations?
1. Following up: this is an attempt to determine whether your intended meaning
was actually received.
2. Regulating information: regulating the flow of information ensures an
optimum flow of information to managers, thereby eliminating the barrier of
communication overload. Both the quality and quantity of communications are
controlled. It is based on the exception principle of management, which states
that only significant deviations from policies and procedures should be brought
to the attention of managers. In terms of formal communication, then manager
should be communicated with only on matters of exceptions and not for the
sake of communication.

3. Utilizing feedback:this is an important element in effective two way

communication. It provides a channel for receiver response, enabling the
communicator to determine whether the message has been received and has
produced the intended response. In downward communication, inaccuracies
are likely to occur because of insufficient opportunity for feedback from
receivers.
4. Empathy: this is the ability to put oneself in the other persons role and to
assume the viewpoints and emotions of that person. This ability involves being
receiver oriented rather than communicator oriented.
The purpose is to
anticipate how the message is likely to be decoded. That means, a manager
should understand and appreciate the process of decoding. Decoding involves
perceptions and the message is filtered through the perception of the receiver.
Actually, empathy can reduce many of the barriers to effective communication
discussed earlier because, the greater the gap between the experiences and
background of the communicator and the receiver, the greater is the effort that
must be made to find a common ground of understanding ie ground on which
there are overlapping fields of experience.
5. Simplifying language: complex language has been identified as a major
barrier to effective communication. The use of jargon may transform simple
concepts into complex puzzles.
6. Effective listening: as a manager you need to develop listening skills with
understanding. As a manager you need to stop talking and put the speaker at
ease, show that you want to listen, remove distractions, empathize with eh
speaker, be patient, hold your temper and go easy on argument and criticism,
ask questions and stop talking.
7. Utilizing the grapevine, informal communication systems:
Thegrapevine is active in almost every organization. This is a very important
source of information to management.
It acts as a filter and feedback
mechanism.
Managers are advised to analyse what is happening on the grape vine. What
information is passed and how it flows and what individuals seem to be key
information conduits.
It helps management to identify information that
concerns workers and management may use the grape vine to disseminate
information. The grapevine is likely to have a stronger impact on receivers
because it is a face to face communication and allows for feedback. It also
satisfies many psychological needs. If the grapevine is inevitable, managers
can seek to utilise it but should attempt to assure its accuracy. One way to
minimize undesirable aspects of the grapevine is to improve other forms of
communication for example, companies can publish periodical employee
newsletters. If information exists on issues relevant to subordinates, then
damaging rumours are less likely to develop.

Managing work groups:

Managing teams: it involves the management of groups and group development.
Managers must understand groups and how it develops.
-

A group is an association of two or more people interacting and

interdependent who come together to achieve a specific goal. Groups can
either be formal or informal.
Formal groups are work groups that are defined by the organizations
structure.
The informal groups emanates from the interactions that take place during
breaks, eg tea time, or lunch breaks.

Note that groups are formed for various reasons. Some of the reasons could be such
as;
1. Physical reasons: in organizations workers are placed according to their
similar occupations. For example secretaries are located elbow to elbow.
People in close proximity to one another tend to interact and communicate with
one another.
2. Economic reasons: in some situations work groups form because individuals
believe they can derive more economic benefits from their jobs if they form into
groups. For example the trade unions.
3. Socio-psychological reasons: workers in organizations also are motivated to
form work groups to satisfy safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization needs.
- Safety: work groups can protect members from outside pressures, including
serving as a buffer from managements demands for better quality and
quantity of production. By being a member of a group individual employees
can become involved in group activities and openly discuss these
management demands with fellow workers who usually support their
viewpoint.
- Social: employees often join wok groups because of their need for affiliation.
The basis of affiliation ranges from wanting to interact with and enjoy other
employees to more complex desires for group support of self- image. A
management atmosphere that
does not permit interaction and
communication suppresses the desire of employees to feel a sense of
belonging.
- Esteem: some employees are attracted to a work group because they think
they gain prestige by belonging. In an organization, a particular group may
be viewed by employees as being a top-notch work group.
Hence
membership among the elite bestows on the members prestige that is not
enjoyed by non-members. This prestige is conferred on members by other
employees often leading to more gratification of the esteem need.
- Self-actualization: the desire of individuals to utilize their skills with
maximum efficiency and to grow and develop psychologically on the job is

interpreted as the self-actualization need. Most employees believe that rigid

job requirements and rules do not enable them to satisfy this need
sufficiently. They react by joining a work group which is viewed as a vehicle
for communication among friends about the use of a job related skill. The
jargon utilized and the skill employed are appreciated by the knowledgeable
group members. This can lead to a feeling of accomplishment. This feeling
and other similar feelings related to a belief that one is creative and skilful
can lead to more satisfaction of the self -actualization need.
Note that, groups have stages of development.
Stage one is the forming stage. This stage is characterized with uncertainty the
members want to test the water to determine what types of behaviour are acceptable.
This stage is complete when members start to think of themselves as part of a group.
The second stage is known as the storming stage; it is a stage of testing who will
control the group and what the group needs to do. When this stage is complete, there
is a relatively clear hierarchy of leadership and agreement on the groups direction.
The third stage is known as norming stage. In this stage the group becomes
cohesive.
There is a strong sense of group identity and a common set of
expectations.
After norming then, the group starts to perform and hence it is the performing
stage. The structure is in place and accepted by all group members. Ie they now
work together.
Finally, it is the adjourning stage.
High levels of performance and membership satisfaction can be achieved because of
some of these reasons:
-

The ability of the group members

The size of the group
The level of conflict
The internal pressure on members to conform to the norms
External conditions imposed on the group; these may include the
strategy, authority relationship, formal rules and regulations, availability of
resources, employee selection criteria, performance management systems,
and culture as well as the general physical layout of the groups work place,
eg tools and equipment being used.
Group members resources; these may include knowledge, skills, abilities
and personality traits, determine what members can do and how effectively
they will perform in a group.
Group structure; in most cases, structure defines roles, conformity, status,
systems, group size, group cohesiveness, and leadership styles

Group processes; it involves, decision making, communication and conflict

management. These have a tendency of influencing group performance and
satisfaction either positively or negatively. The main disadvantages are that,
dominant and vocal minority can heavily influence the groups final decision.
Besides, group think can undermine critical thinking in a group and harm
the quality of the final decision.
Group tasks
Performance and satisfaction

Turning groups into effective work teams:

Work teams are groups whose members work intensely on a specific, common goal
using their positive synergy, individual and mutually accountability as well as
complementary skills. These teams interact to share information and make decisions
to help each member do his job.
Types of work teams:
-

Problem solving: these are teams from the same department of functional
area involved in improving work activities.
Self managed work team: these are a group of employees who may
operate without a manager and are responsible for a complete work process.
The main purpose is to get work done and to manage itself.
Cross functional teams: groups composed of specialitiesfor instance, the
hospitals may have intensive care units, pharmacists social worker
nutritionist, etc.
Virtual team: a team that uses technology to link physically dispersed
members in order to achieve a common goal.

The managers duty is to create and effective work team. Therefore, effective ness
can only be understood after analysing the characteristics of virtual teams. For
example;
i.
ii.

iii.
iv.

Clear goals; ie the team must have clear understanding of the goal to be
achieved and all the members are committed to meet the goal.
Relevant skills; it is composed of competent individuals who have the
necessary technical and interpersonal skills to achieve the desired goals
while working together. Nevertheless, you notice that it is not every one who
is technically competent who has the interpersonal skills to work well with
others.
Mutual trust; members believe in each others ability, character, and
integrity. Also, maintaining trust requires careful attention by managers .
Unified commitment; dedication and willingness to spend extraordinary
amounts of energy to achieve the goals, ie loyalty must be exhibited.

v.
vi.
vii.
viii.

Good communication;
members convey both verbally and non vernal
messages and readily get understood.
Negotiating skills; flexibility requires members to develop negotiating skills.
That means there is need to reconcile and confront differences.
Appropriate leadership; this involves motivating team members to follow
them. Even when situations are difficulty.
Internal and external support; ie it is characterised by a supportive climate.
Internally there must be a sound infrastructure which means proper training,
etc.
the structure must support and reinforce behaviours that lead to high
levels of performance. Externally, managers should provide the team with
the resources needed to get the job done.

Note that as a manager, you may be required to manage a global team. Such
assignments can be complicated because it has its own challenges like; sourcing
group member resources and managing these resources. Also, recognizing members
skills, abilities, and personality differences etc, can be challenging. This means that
managers may have to be familiar with the culture.
Also, issues like conformity, status, social loafing and cohesiveness become
challenging in a global team management.
Above all, group processes may cause a challenge especially in communication
because members may not be familiar with the language used.

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
MANAGING OPERATIONS
Managing operations refers to the transformation process that covets resources into
finished products.
The system takes in inputs which could be in form of people, equipment, materials,
and information and transforms them through various processes, procedures, work
activities etc, into finished goods.
The concept of operations management is important to managers because every
business unit in the organization produces something. It is important for the following
reasons:
i.
ii.

It encompasses both services and manufacturing industries;

It is important in effectively and efficiently managing productivity; to improve
productivity, managers must focus on both people and operations variables.
Therefore, managers and not workers are the primary sources of increased
productivity.

iii.

It plays a strategic role in an organizations competitive success.

Note that, successful organizations move toward managing their operations from a
value chain perspectiveValue chain management is a process of managing the
sequence of activities and information along the entire value chain.
-

Value chain: refers to the entire series of organizational work activities that
add value at each step. Ie from raw materials to finished products. That
means, by using value chain you can encompass the suppliers supplier to
the customers customers.
Value chain: can also be defined as the performance characteristics,
features, and attributes and any other aspects of products/services for which
customers are willing to give up resources (money). That means, value is
provided to customers through transforming raw materials and other
resources into some product or service that end users need or desire, when,
where, and how they want it.

The objectives of value chain management:

To create a value chain strategy that meets and exceeds customers needs and desires
and allows for full integration among all members of the chain.
-

An effective value chain is one in which a sequence of participants work

together as a team where each member adds some components of value lie,
faster information assembly, better customer response, etc.
that means
when value is created for customers and their needs and desires are
satisfied, every one in the chain benefits.
The management of value chain begins with relationship management with
the suppliers and customers.
The benefits of value chain management require significant investments in
time, energy and other resources, as well as commitment by all partners.

There are four primary benefits of value chain management;

-

Improved procurement
Improved logistics
Improved product development
Enhanced customer order management

There are six main requirements of value chain management:

i.

Coordination and collaborating: eg partners may identify things they may

not value but which customers do, then share information.
Sharing
information requires open communication among the various chain partners.
Ie it facilitates timely deliveries.

ii.

Technology investment: information technology can be used to restructure

the value chain
Organizational processes; all processes must be critically evaluated from
beginning to the end so that you can see where value can be added. That
means, non value adding activities should be eliminated.
Note that, better demand forecasting is necessary because you need closer
ties with customers and suppliers. Also, selected functions may need to be
done collaboratively with other partners in the value chain. This can be
extended to sharing employees. Not only that, but new measures are needed
for evaluating performance of various activities along the value chain
because the aim is to meet and exceed the customers needs and desires.
Leadership; requires strong and committed leadership.
All levels of
management ,must support, facilitate and promote the implementation and
on going practices of value management. Then, each employees role must
be clarified in the value chain.
Employees/human resources: note that, without employees there would
be no products/services. There would be no organized efforts in the pursuit
of common goals.
The three main human resource requirements in the value chain are;
flexibility, ie flexible approaches to job design are a necessity. Secondly,
effective hiring process must be designed to identify employees who have
the ability to learn and adapt. Thirdly, on going training is necessary to all
employees. Ie managers must see to it that employees have the knowledge
and tools that are needed to do their work efficiently and effectively.
The organizational culture and attitudes must be supportive, for instance,
sharing, collaborating, openness, mutual respect and trust.

iii.

iv.

v.

vi.

However, some of the challenges to value chain management are as follows:

-

Organizational barriers;eg refusal or reluctance to share information or

reluctance to shake up the status quo and security issues. Ie without coordination, collaboration may be impossible.
Cultural attitudes: unsupportive cultural attitudes especially trust and
control is concerned, can be a major obstacle to value chain management. In
other words, lack of trust and too much trust, both have a problem.
When there is no trust, partners may be reluctant to share information,
capabilities and processes.
The organization needs to know its capabilities and processes in order to
become more effective and efficient at management.
People: if employees refuse to do their work, how and with whom they work,
then, collaboration and cooperation throughout the value chain will be
difficult to achieve. Therefore, motivation becomes important.
A lack of experienced managers to lead the organizations.

Other issues that affect managing operations are:

1. The role of technology in operations; most organizations are looking for

ways to harness technology in order to improve operations management. Eg
who can provide faster and better services. Managers who understand the
power of technology know that managing operations is more than simply
producing the product.
2. Quality initiatives; products must be reliable, it must do its purpose.
Dimensions of quality are:
- Performance ie operational performance
- Featured ieimportant special characteristics of the product
- Flexibility ie meeting operational specifications over some period of time.
- Durability ie amount of use before performance deteriorates
- Conformance ie match with the standards
- Service ability ie easy and speed of repair on normal services
- Aesthetics ie how the product looks and feels
- Perceived quality ie image of the product.
How can quality be achieved? There must be quality improvement strategies and then
control for quality

MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

Success in every organization starts with people. People are the most precious assets
of the organization their ideas and differences is the only path to sustainable long
term growth of the organization.
Why is human resource important? It is important for three reasons;
i.

ii.

iii.

It can be a significant source of competitive advantage as various studies

have concluded. That means people oriented organizations gives an
organization an edge by creating superior shareholder value.
Human resource management isan important part of organizational
strategies. Employers must view workers and treat them as
partners not just as costs to be minimized or avoided.
The way how organizations treat their workers has been proved to have
significant relations with organizational performance. Workers become
more committed to the organization when they feel valued.
Organizations therefore, must continuously improve the knowledge, skills,
and abilities of employees. Employers must increase workers motivation and
reduce loafing on the job, and enhancing he retention of quality employees
while encouraging low performers to leave the organization.

This shows that the activities of HRM must be completed in order to ensure that
organization have qualified people to perform the work that needs to be done. These
activities are;
-

To ensure that competent employees are identified and selected.

Providing employees with up to date knowledge and skills
Organizations must retain competent and high performing employees.

The process of identifying and selecting competent employees requires human

resource planning. That is ensuring that you have the right number and kinds of
capable people in the right places and at the right time through planning, organizing
and avoiding sudden people shortages and surpluses. Human resources planning
entails two which are; assessing current human resources and meeting future human
resource needs. This stage may also require recruitment and de-cruitiment.
Providing employees with up to date knowledge and skills require employee training.
The manager therefore, needs to identify exactly what kind of training would be
required in the whole organization.
Retaining competent, high performing employees means that the managers must
know whether their employees are performing their jobs efficiently and effectively
and whether there is need for improving. This can be achieved through the use of
performance appraisals. Those who are already in top management can be retained
by using appropriate compensations and other benefits.
Other issues that may affect Human resource managers are such as; issues of
downsizing the organization, managing diverse workforce, managing sexual
harassment, managing work life balance, controlling costs ie HR costs like issues of
health, and education assistance, pension funds etc.
MANAGERIAL CONTROL
Control may be defined as the process of regulating the activities of the organization
to ensure that set objectives are met.
It may also be defined as the process whereby management keep the organization on
the planned course towards goal attainment.
Control entails setting standards of performance and then comparing the standard
with the actual performance, taking corrective action where necessary.
Why is control important?
It is important because it helps manages know whether organizational goals are being
met. If they are not met, then what could be the cause.
The following are some of the factors that make control inevitable in the organization:

1. The changing environment: an organization operates in an ever changing

environment, therefore, the standards may have to be reviewed to keep abreast
with changes. Control therefore, quantifies the difference between actual and
standard performance which in itself is brought about by the environment.
2. The inevitability of errors:by nature, human beings make mistakes.
Therefore, by providing the link between standard and actual performance,
control ensures that such errors are minimised and where they do occur, are
corrected to steer the organisation back on the course for achieving its
objectives.
3. The complexity of organizations; the complexity of organizations and the
diversity of the members and activities necessitates control.
4. Delegation: managers often have to delegate authority to subordinates.
Therefore, the responsibility for the accomplishment of the task and
accountability for results both rest with them(managers).
That means
managers have to undertake the control function to ensure that the authority
delegated to subordinates is effectively used.
Control focuses on six main critical areas of the organization:
1. Theperformanceoftheorganization: basically, the organization have as its
core objectives the achievement of certain levels of profitability, turnover, and
costs, these then become the elements for which control is necessary. For
example, having established profitability targets, the managers would then
need to compare this with the actual profit levels to determine, explain and
correct any resultant differences.
2. Humanresources: this is the single most unique resource of the organization,
managerial controls therefore, would target this resource to ensure that
organizational members efforts are aimed towards achieving organizational
objectives. Taking into consideration that several individuals may work for one
organization, then regulating their activities becomes a major managerial
function. Corrective measures may include disciplining or punishing undesirable
behaviour.
3. Financialresources: note that no organization can function properly without
finances, and it is the scarcest resources of the organisation. It therefore,
becomes apparent that there is need to regulate the use of these resources in
such a way as to maximise their contribution to the attainment of organisational
goals.
4. Rawmaterials: like inventory, etc may be controlled by such methods as stock
control, inventory control and others. Such resources have to be regulated in
terms of their use to ensure that organizational goals are attained.
5. Informationresources: information has to be targeted to the right persons in
the organization and has to be regulated for goal attainment. The necessity for
information becomes obvious in these turbulent times.

6. Operations: these are the day to day activities of the organization. Control
effort has to also focus on them with a view to ensuring that routine targets are
met. This in turn will ensure that the overall long term goals are met.
Steps in the control process:
1. Establish standards: in terms of profits, costs, turnover, etc and establishing
howsuch performance will be measured.
There are four ways you can use to measure the standards these are personal
observation, statistical report, oral reports and written reports
2. Measuring actual performance:
the reporting should be reliable and
reasonably accurate. It should be in terms of the same bases of measurement
as set standards.
3. Comparing actual and standard performance: emphasis should not only
be on differences that are negative, but should also be established why the
standards have been exceeded. Because at times the excess could be because
the standard were not challenging enough.
4. Taking corrective action: differences in the actual and standard performance
may be either due to unsatisfactory performance or unrealistic standards.
Therefore, the corrective action is meant to correct the performance if
unsatisfactory or adjusting the plans if they unrealistic.
Typesofcontrol
The type of control can be analysed according to the stage at which control action
is taken:
-

Feed forward controls: these are controls instituted before the production
process is at the input stage. By ensuring that the input is of high quality,
there will be less likelihood of poor quality. The advantage is that it allows
management to take corrective action before problems actually occur.
Concurrent controls: in this case the control action will be taken during
the production process
Feedback controls:
these are reactive by nature in that they are
implemented after an activity. The emphasis is on waiting for an
event/activity to occur, comparing it with standards and then taking
corrective action where there is a difference. For example, quality control
undertaken on the final product, and correction of errors detected after work
has already been input, like in a computer system.

Feedback controls enable management to evaluate the effectiveness of

planning effort at the end of the planning period. They are said to boost

employee motivation in that they provide employees with information on how

well they have performed.
Control systems: may be classified into bureaucratic and organic control systems.
They are based on strict rules and regulations. Emphasis is on strict adherence to
procedures. And they rely on the hierarchy of formal authority lines.
Advantagesofbureaucraticcontrols:
As control is at every stage, it ensures all deviations are corrected. This is suitable for
routine activities and a stable environment. It is ideal for situations when the
consequences of error are grave. Hence, ensure uniformity of actions.
Disadvantages:
-

May result in wasting of resources through unnecessary controls.

Not suitable for complicated tasks or a changing environment.
Lack of flexibility due to emphasis on standardisation of activities.

Organiccontrols: characteristics of organic controls are:

-

Delegation of authority and power

Use of detailed rules and procedures only when necessary
Flexible authority emphasis on expert power
Emphasis on objectives or outputs as opposed to methods
Use of both intrinsic and extrinsic reward systems to control performance
Trust for individuals self controls through a personal sense of responsibility
Existence of trust for group or team controls belief that group objectives
and norms assist in achieving organizational goals
Bias towards a broader span of control and emphasis on results as opposed
to direct supervision of subordinates
Collaborative/consultative decision making

Advantages of organic controls:

Flexible controls are only exercised when necessary and may be less costly due to
control by exception principle. They also provide a motivating approach to control
through trust for team controls and less direct supervision. It is suitable for complex,
non routine tasks, and may result in innovative ideas owing to less emphasis on
standardisation and uniformity.
Disadvantages are:
-

Not suitable for routine tasks

Not ideal where consequences of error are severe
Not conducive where managers advocate theory Y management style.

Factors determining the type of control system:

i.

ii.

iii.

iv.

v.

The size of the organization: a smaller organization tends to rely on

informal personal controls. But as the organisation grows the impersonal
formal system may have to be adopted along with more direct supervision.
Degree of decentralization: the more decentralized an organization is the
greater the need for controls. This is due to the fact that in spite of delegation,
the manager still retains accountability. Thus more control will be necessary to
ensure the effective use of delegated authority.
Importance of an activity: it depends on the consequence of error. Where
an error would be extremely costly to the organization, greater control may be
necessary.
Position and level within the organization: those higher up in hierarchical
levels will have a greater need for multiple controls because their work is
usually based on ambiguous situations. This contrasts with persons at the
lower end of the organizational hierarchy who have clearly defined performance
standards and as such need lesser controls.
Organisational culture: if trust and openness are typical of an organisations
culture, there will be more informal relative to formal controls. More formal
controls would conversely exist when the culture is characterised by fear,
distrust and reprisals.

Qualities of an effective control system:

-

Specific:
the control system must be targeted at specific areas, eg
standards must not be vague
Simplicity: the system must be easy to use. A complicated system may not
necessarily be the most effective one
Economy: it must be cost effective. A balance is must be struck between
economy and other factors.
Timeliness: an effective system must produce information when it is
needed most. This ensures that corrective action is taken before a situation
gets out of hand.
Completeness:
the system must balance qualitative with qualitative
information and must not be restricted to one particular aspect.
Understand ability: a good control must be understood by all those who
participate in its implementation.Otherwise it may be of no value. It should
not be difficult to use as this may lead to unnecessary frustration for the
employees.
Reasonable criteria: standards that are too high may de-motivate staff,
leading to possible use of shortcuts. That means standards should be based
on reasonable criteria which are sufficient to challenge and motivate staff
while minimising chances of deception.
Strategic placement: controls should be placed on key areas of the
organisations performance due to the fact that it is impossible to control all
the areas. This also ensures that there is economy.

Emphasis on exceptions:
the control system should pinpoint only
exceptional circumstances. This would ensure that management does not
have excessive and unnecessary information concerning variations from
standards.
Multiple criteria: an effective system will have multiple standards to help
minimize chances of manipulation brought about by say, having a single
standard. This may also contribute towards objective control systems, and
more accurate assessments of performance.
Corrective action: the effectiveness of a control system will also depend on
its ability not only to detect deviations but also its prescription of corrective
managerial action to put the organization back on course towards goal
attainment.
Accuracy:
the control system must be accurate in terms of the
measurement of actual performance. Incorrect measurement will raise
unnecessary alarms by highlighting insignificant variances.

The degree of control required depends on:

-

The size of organization: ie when an organization is small it relies on

informal controls but as it grows in size it becomes necessary to use a formal
system.
Degree of decentralization: if the degree of delegation is high, there is
need to increase the number of control points. This is necessitated by the
fact that managers still remain accountable for the actions of the
subordinates, notwithstanding that they will have delegated authority. But
when authority is centralised, there will be a tendency for lesser controls.
Organizational culture: if culture is characterized by trust, autonomy and
openness control would be minimal and largely informal.
Where the
organisational culture is characterised by distrust and reprisal, there will be a
tendency towards tighter controls.
Importance of an activity: here importance relates to the consequences
of error. Where an activity is very crucial, there is a likelihood for tighter
controls. Conversely, an activity that is of low importance in terms of the
above would attract lesser controls than the former.
Position and level in the organisation: usually, the higher up the
hierarchy, the greater the need for control owing to the fact that there is
increased ambiguity as we move up the ladder.

MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE

The modern world is characterised by rapid changes because of the environments in

which the organizations operate from. Every organization experiences forces from
two major environments: these are the internal and external forces.
The internal forces may include new organizational strategies, change in
composition of workforce, new equipment and changing employee attitudes. These
internal forces may be controllable by the manager at his/her own will. However,
managers have no control over the external forces. For example, the changing
consumer needs and wants, new governmental laws, economic changes, and the
changing technology.
A successful change can be planned for; it has three stages,
-

unfreezing the status quo, it is a stage of preparing for the needed change.
It can be done by increasing the driving force. Once the unfreezing is
complete,
changemust be implemented to a new state is done. The new situation
needs to be
refrozen to make the change permanent. The intention of refreezing is to
stabilize the new situation.

Organizational changeis an alteration of people, structure, or technology. When

change is taking place, some people act as change agents. It is advisable to utilise
outsiders to facilitate change because they will be free from bias. Besides, outsiders
may initiate sudden change for the organization because they do not experience the
repercussion after change is complete.
There are three types of change that the organization can apply:
-

Change in structure; ie changes in structural variables such as reporting

relationships, coordination mechanisms and employee empowerment or job
design.
Change in technology; ie modification in the work process so that the
methods and equipment used suit the situation.
Changeinpeople;
ie changes that take place in areas of attitude,
expectations, perceptions and behaviour of individuals or groups. The
changes
that
focuses
on
people
are
referred
to
organizationaldevelopment.

Techniques of organizational development are;

-

Team building: these are techniques that help team members learn how
each member thinks and operates.
Intergroup development: iechanging the attitudes, stereotypes and
perceptions that work groups have about each other.

Process consultation: engaging an outsider (consultant) to help the

manager understand how interpersonal processes are affecting the way work
is being done.
Survey feedback: a technique for assessing attitudes and perceptions,
identifying discrepancies in these and resolving differences by using survey
information in feedback groups.
Sensitivity training:
a method of changing behaviour through
unstructured group interaction.

Reasons why planned change is necessary:

i.

ii.
iii.
iv.

Environmental changes threaten the organizations survival; therefore,

to change may lead to failure in keeping in touch with the environment and
eventually translate to loss of market share and reduced sales.
Environmental changes offer new opportunities;eg new markets for the
organizations products.
The organizational structure; needs constant review to ensure that it is
abreast with environmental trends.
Changes in productivity, profitability; may necessitate workers moral and
sales levels.

Reasons why people resist change:

-

Uncertainty; usually, change replaces the known with the unknown. Eg

organizational culture shapes the organisations identity, thus members may
be unwilling to change this identity.
Habit: iedoing things out of habit. Naturally, people do not want to try
other ways of doing things, and therefore, to cope with complexityrely on
habits, but when confronted with change, the tendency is to be resistance.
Self interest: eg fear of losing something already possessed. It threatens
the investment one could have made in the status quo. Elements of self
interest may be such as; adequate pay, working conditions, job security,
power and prestige, as well as status, or any other economic benefits that
the individual values.
Personal beliefs: a personal belief that change may be incompatible with
the organizational objectives, introducing a new product in the business may
meet resistance.
Fear of the unknown: because they do not know what will happen after
the change.
Lack of confidence in capabilities:eg fear that change will expose their
weaknesses and thus may not have confidence in their capabilities.
Lack of information: if there is no information about the need for change
the benefit there from, etc. then resistance is likely to rule than if every one
is notified.

Ineffective change agent/sudden change: a sudden change may take

members of the organization by surprise and may even make them
suspicious and hence resistant. This may emanate from lack of tact on the
part of the agent.

Ways of overcoming resistance to change:

1. Education and communication:
there is need to communicate with
employees to help them see the logic of change. Educate employees through
one-on-one discussions, memos, group meetings or reports. Also appropriate if
source of resistance is either poor communication or misinformation. There
must be mutual trust and credibility between managers and employees.
2. Participation and involvement: ensure that every one is involved to make
them feel part of the process especially in the initial stages. Assume that they
have expertise to make meaningful contributions. Involvement can reduce
resistance, obtain commitment to seeing change succeed and increase quality
of change decision.
3. Facilitate and support: offer re-training, time off, emotional support and
understanding during the period of change. This will minimise negative effects
on those affected by the change.
4. Negotiation and agreement: interact with potential resistors, establish their
interests, compromise, solicit for support.
5. Manipulation and co-optation: manipulation is covert attempts to influence
such as twisting or distorting facts, withholding damaging information or crating
false rumours.
Co-optation is a form of manipulation and participation.
Inexpensive and easy ways to gain support of resisters like giving them key
positions to minimise resistance. It is an inexpensive and easy way to gain
support of resisters. It can fail miserably if targets feel they have been tricked.
6. Selecting people who accept change: ability to easily accept and adapt to
change is related to personality. Select people who are open to experience, take
a positive attitude toward change, are willing to take risks and are flexible in
their behaviour.
7. Explicit and implicit Coercion: a way of using direct threats or force. It is
inexpensive and easy way to get support. It may be illegal. Even legal coercion
can be perceived as bullying.
8. Appoint a suitable change agent: ie someone who is competent and
capable of minimising resistance by; reassuring members that their interests
will not be compromised by change. Also, by implementing change at all
phases and involving all concerned at each stage.
NB:
the change agent must be of good reputation
and
respected by the
organizational members. In addition, must be familiar with the organizational politics
and be able to identify potential resistors.

The contemporary issues in managing change:

1. Changing organizational culture: there are certain factors to consider
when analysing organizational culture:
- The fact that an organizational culture is made up of relatively stable and
permanent characteristics tends to make it very resistance to change.
- A culture takes a long time to form and once established, it tends to become
entrenched.
- Strong cultures are particularly resistance to change because employees
have become so committed to them, and therefore, can take years to
change.However, there are some situational factors that can facilitate
change to take place. For example;
- A drastic crisis. Like an unexpected financial setback, or a loss of a
customer, or a dramatic technological innovation by a competitor. Surprises
can weaken the status quo and make people start thinking about the
relevance of the current culture.
- Leadership changes hands; eg reshuffling of top management can provide an
alternative set of key values and may be perceived as more capable of
responding to the crisis than the old leaders were.
- Stage of organization; ie the younger the organization, the less entrenched
its culture and it is easier for managers to communicate new values in a
small organization than in a large one.
- Weak cultures. Weak cultures are more receptive to change than are strong
ones.
2. Handling employee stress: note that stress isnt always bad although often
times it is discussed in a negative way. It can be positive especially when it
offers a potential gain. Functional stress can help an employee to perform at his
or her highest level at crucial times.
However, stress is associated with constraints and demands. Ie a constraint
prevents you from doing what you desire. And demand may be the loss of
something desired. For example, during the time of performance appraisals,
employees feel stressed because you confront opportunity, constraints and
demands. Note that, a good performance review may lead to a promotion,
greater responsibilities, and higher salary. While a poor review may keep you
from getting the promotion and an extremely poor review might lead to job loss.
There are two conditions necessary for potential stress to become actual stress;
firstly, there must be uncertainty about the outcome, and secondly, the outcome
must be important.
As a manager you need to be aware of causes of stress. Some could be job related
while others may be personal issues. Whatever, the cause, stress involves demands,
constraints, and opportunities.

You also, need to know the symptoms of stress eg, depression, accident prone, or
argumentative, some may have difficulty making routine decisions, may be easily
distracted etc. symptoms of stress can be categorized into three groups;
-

Behavioural:
ie changes in productivity, absenteeism, job turnover,
changes in eating habits, increased smoking, or consumption of alcohol,
rapid speech, fidgeting, and sleep disorders.
Psychological:
job related dissatisfaction, tension, anxiety, irritability,
boredom, and procrastination.
Physical: changes in metabolism, increased heart and breathing rates,
raised blood pressure, headaches, and potential of heart attacks.

Ways of reducing work related stress:

-

Employee selection;
ie an employees
ability must match the job
requirements.
Reduceambiguity about job expectations
Improved organizational communication
Use performance planning programs like MBO to clarify job responsibilities,
provide clear performance goals and reduce ambiguity through feedback
Job redesigning; job should be redesigned to reduce the work load and
increase the opportunities for employees to participate in decisions and to
gain social support.

Reducing stress from the employees personal life has two problems;
firstly, it is difficulty for a manager to have direct control. Secondly, there are ethical
considerations like, does a manager have a right to intrude in an employees
personal life? if you think it is ethical, some of the following approaches may be
used:
-

Employee counselling can provide stress relief.

Use a time management program; advice employees to give priorities to
their activities
- Organisational sponsored wellness programs; ie programs to assess health
problems
3. Making change happen successfully. These are specific actions that
managers can take to make change happen although there is no single action to
be used to have the impact to change something that is ingrained and highly
valued.
- Top managements tone;
the top guys must set the tone through
behaviour. Ie must be role models.
- Create
- new stories; symbols and rituals to replace those currently in use.
- Select, promote, and support employees who adopt the new values

Change the reward system in order to encourage acceptance of the new

values.
Replace unwritten norms with clearly specified expectations
Shake up current subcultures through job transfers, job rotation, and or
terminations
Work to get consensus through employees participation and creating a
climate with a high level of trust.
Be a change capable organization: by linking the present and the future
ie think of work as more than an extension of the past, instead, think about
opportunities.
Make learning a way of life; eg knowledge sharing and management.
Actively support and encourage day-to-day improvements and changes.
Successful change can come from the small changes as well as the big ones.
Ensure diverse teams; ie things cannot be done like they were done years
ago.
Shelter breakthroughie protecting those break through.
Integrate technology ie use technology to implement changes
Build and deepen trust, because people are likely to support the
organizations culture is trusting and managers have credibility and integrity.
Managers must recognize their own important roles. Eg being a change
leader.

Finally, encourage innovation.

-