Groups can become a high performance team by following organizational goals and strategic planning, while demographic characteristics and cultural diversity can influence a team in many ways. Cultural diversity and demographic characteristics can help achieve goals and people should be aware how they can contribute to reaching goals in an organization. This article will discuss the impact of demographic characteristics and cultural diversity on behavior within a group, and how individuality will sometimes contribute to detract from high-performance in teams. Numerous attempts have been made by several organizations in order to gain competitive edge over their competitors through management concepts and practices. In order to respond to globalization, majority of organizations are turning to modern, more productive ways of conducting business, such as effective organizational structures, greater support from technology, and more team orientated environments. Indeed, a team is where combined employees apply their skills and abilities together in order Continue reading
Management Basics
Characteristics of Effective Teams
Many authors have written various features that they believe are essential for team effectiveness. Having read them it can be suggested that the following are the features of an effective team: Clear Understanding of the Goals/Objectives: Perfect understanding of what the goals of the team are, is very important. Every member of the team should be able to talk for the team on the progress of their project when called upon. However, this happens when every member of the team understands the team’s goal and can tell if they are making progress or not. Shared Values: Effective teams share desires to succeed at whatever they do. They have a common sense of purpose. The team must agree that the work they are doing is worthwhile and that their goals are worth making the effort to achieve. Members interact and work independently to achieve team objectives. They take collective responsibility for Continue reading
Levels and Stages of Planning
Levels of Planning In management theory, it is usual to consider that there are three basic levels of planning, though in practice there may be more than three levels of management and to an extent, there will be some overlapping of planning operations. The three levels of planning are discussed below: Top level planning: also known as overall or strategic planning, top level planning is done by the top management, i.e., board of directors or governing body. It encompasses the long-range objectives and policies or organisation and is concerned with corporate results rather than sectional objectives. Top level planning is entirely long-range and inextricably linked with long-term objectives. It might be called the ‘what’ of planning. Second level planning: also known as tactical planning, it is done by middle level managers or departmental heads. It is concerned with ‘how’ of planning. It deals with development of resources to the best Continue reading
Control in Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)
There are various methods of classification of management control in Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). By levels of control here it is meant whether the parent / corporate level managers or subsidiary/country-level managers are involved. The former might be called higher level and the later lower level control. Depending on the sphere of focus we have two types of control called Strategic control and Operational control. In the MNE’s context, strategic control is the responsibility of parent and operational control is the preserve of the subsidiary. Another way puts ‘management control, tactical control and transactional control’ as the 3 levels of control respectively carried out by the corporate top management, collectively by corporate & subsidiary management and subsidiary management in the case of MNEs. Of course, whether an MNE’s structure is ethno-centric, geo-centric, multi-domestic/poly-centric or region-centric is another factor that influences the exact distribution of responsibility. The forward looking information is provided Continue reading
Difference Between Authority and Power
Authority and Power Authority may be defined as the right to guide and direct the actions of others and to secure from them responses which are appropriate to the attainment of the goals of the organization. According to Barnard, ”Authority is the character of communication(order) in a formal organization by virtue of which it is accepted by a contributor to, or member of the organization as generating the action he contributes, that is, as governing or determining what he does or is not to do so far as the organization is concerned.” Power refers to the ability or capacity to influence the behavior or attitudes of other individuals. A manager’s power may be considered as his ability to cause subordinates to do what the manager wishes them to do. Power is an important means to enforce obedience to the rules, regulations and decisions of the organization. Power may be Continue reading
Theories of Learning
Learning is an important psychological process that-determines human behavior. Learning can be defined as “relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience or reinforced practice”. Important theories of learning are: 1. Classical Conditioning The work of the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov demonstrated the classical conditioning process. When Pavlov presented a piece of meat to the dog in the experiment, Pavlov noticed a great deal of salivation. He termed the food an unconditioned stimulus and the salivation an unconditioned response. When the dog saw the meat, it salivated. On the other hand, when Pavlov merely rang a bell, the dog did not salivate. Pavlov subsequently introduced the sound of a bell each time the meat was given to the dog. The dog eventually learned to salivate in response to the ringing of the-bell-even when there was no meat. Pavlov had conditioned the dog to respond to Continue reading