Personality is a complex, multi-dimensional construct and there is no simple definition of what personality is. Salvatore R. Maddi defines personality as, “A stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior and that may not be easily understood as the sole result of the social and biological pressures of the moment”. All individuals have some universally common characteristics. Yet they differ in some other specific attributes. This makes it difficult for the managers to assume that they can apply same reward types or motivation techniques to modify different individual behaviors. The definition, however, does not mean that people never change. In simple terms, it asserts that individuals do not change all at once. Their thoughts, feelings, values and actions remain relatively stable over time. Changes in individual’s personality can, however, occur gradually over a period of time. The managers should, therefore, attempt Continue reading
Management Basics
Leadership Qualities – Top Qualities that Make a Great Leader
Leadership is a process of influencing the behavior of people at work towards the achievement of specified goal. The following elements must be present in the leadership: It is the process of influence; The influence is always for achievement of common goal; There must be minimum two or more persons present; influencing your own behavior is not leadership. The influence should be to get the willing co-operation of the employees and not the forceful co-operation. Most Important Leadership Qualities A person must possess the following qualities to be a good and effective leader. Physical qualities. Good physical features attract people. Physical features like height, weight, health and looks of person attract and individual. Healthy and smart leader can him also work hard and he can induce his subordinates also to work hard. Knowledge, Intelligence and Scholarship. A leader must be able to examine every problem in the right perspective or Continue reading
Characteristics of Successful Teams
A team can be said to be a group of people working together to achieve a goal. It can also be seen “as a limited number of people who have shared objectives at work and who co-operate, on a permanent or temporary basis, to achieve those objectives in a way that allows each individual to make a distinctive contribution”. In order team to be effective, it should have certain characteristics, listed below Sponsor: In order to have effective liaison with the quality council, there should be a sponsor. Preferably the sponsor is a member of the quality council, thereby providing organizational support. Team Charter: A team charter is a document that defines the team’s mission, boundaries, the back ground of the problem, the team’s authority and duties and resources. It also identifies the members and their assign the roles-leader, recorder, timekeeper and facilitator. The sponsor and the team negotiate the 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
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
3 Common Types of Organizational Structure
Organizational structure is the internal, formal framework of a business that shows the way in which management is linked together and how the authority is transmitted. It is basically a framework used to describe the hierarchy in an organisation. Every business needs to have their own organizational structure as it helps in identifying the job at each level of an individual followed by its functions and it also assists in obtaining their own goals for development. There is a need for every type of organisation to have their own structure specially when it comes to large enterprises as it becomes difficult activities of the various departments and functions. A business will opt for an organisation structure which is best suited to them and the way they would like to be working, and the chart they create will reflect this. A flat organisation is one that has eliminated most or all Continue reading