Competing models of management refer to those models that attempt to explain the competing value framework of organizational management. The organizational management sometimes faces the management challenge of balancing between two or more important processes that affect the operation of an organization. The competing values framework is a model that was developed by Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron to assess the organizational culture. The theory of competing values framework, in essence, shows the interrelationship between processes that enable the organization to focus on the internal environment or external environment. The area of focus of an organization leads to the development of the organizational culture and often results in a balancing of two or more competing value factors. This implies that the organizational competing values framework models have a role in the success of an organization. The competing values framework can be used in constructing an organizational culture profile. An organizational Continue reading
Management Concepts
Evolution of Workplace Spirituality Concept
Spirituality at work is the recognition that employees have an inner life that nourishes and is nourished by meaningful work that takes place in the context of community. Thus spirituality at work has three components: the inner life, meaningful work, and community. Conditions for community include items that assess the extent to which necessary elements or enabling conditions for community are present. Thus, a community is a place in which people can experience personal growth, be valued for themselves as individuals, and have a sense of working together. Meaning at work includes items that capture a sense of what is important, energizing, and joyful about work. That is, it taps into work-related dimensions of human experience that are neither physical nor intellectual, but spiritual. Inner life is composed of items that capture an individual’s hopefulness, awareness of personal values, and concern for spirituality. Five societal trends have formed the basis Continue reading
Critical Evaluation of Henry Fayol’s Principles of Management
Henri Fayol was a pioneer in developing the theories of management and published the leading book, ‘14 Principles of Management’. It was one of the first books of its kind to be published about management and to this day Fayol is known as the father or modern management. Fayol was instrumental in establishing original ways for mangers to guide their employees towards being more efficient in achieving goals. He is widely considered to be one of the most important theorists of his time and some of his ideas are still applied to modern day management. The first principle hypothesized by Fayol was the one of division of labor. Fayol argued that efficiency can be maximized by distributing tasks to employees according to their specialization or by achieving specialization through repetition. This theory is applicable to businesses who have many or even few employees. The theory suggests that work should not Continue reading
Employee Resistance to Change
Change comes from anywhere, and is the only constant. Propelled by the driving force of technology and globalization, the economic landscape continuously transform in a way that has come to undermine the relevance of received wisdom on how a firm should be managed and what underlies its success. In this new millennium, it is more challenging for an organization to sustain its competency or even survive in the diversity market. When an organization is threatened by environmental changes such as crisis or competition, it results in the increasing needs for communication as technology develops rapidly and higher customer demands will be foreseen. Organizational change is not an option; it constitutes a fundamental necessity for success within the new competitive landscape. An organization need to evaluate its performance and review its business strategies, corporate structure, operational process and HR policies to identify the areas that need transformation. To maintain its competitive Continue reading
Six Elements of Organizational Structure
An organizational structure is a diagram displaying the hierarchical arrangement of lines of authority, roles and duties within an organisation and how they relate to one another. A structure is dependent upon the objectives and strategy of which the organization is focussed on. There are six basic elements of an organizational structure: Specialisation Departmentalisation Chain of Command Span of control Centralisation and Decentralisation Formalisation Work specialization gives employees specific duties and roles they are expected to perform within the company, factoring in their qualifications and skills. Having descriptions of duties for staff members helps the organisation to fully meet the workforce needs and to ensure there are no unnecessary duplications within roles. Departmentalization refers to how the organisation breaks down the functions and teams needed to run the company and carry out the essential tasks. Departments are usually made up of staff members who perform similar tasks in the same Continue reading
Theories of Motivation: Vroom’s Valence-Expectancy Theory
Vroom’s expectancy theory was originally developed by Victor H. Vroom, a Canadian psychologist, in 1964. Attacking Herzberg’s two-factor theory, Vroom offered an expectancy approach to the understanding of motivation. According to him, a person’s motivation towards an action at any time would be determined by an individual’s perception that a certain type of action would lead to a specific outcome and his personal preference for this outcome. Vroom’s expectancy theory consisted of two related models – the valence model and the force model. The valence model attempts to capture the perceived attractiveness, or valence, of an outcome by aggregating the attractiveness of all associated resultant outcomes. The force model of expectancy theory attempts to capture motivational force to act by associating the expectancy of resultant outcomes and their individual valences. These two models gave Vroom the opening to build his expectancy theory to the level that it is today most Continue reading