Definitions of Motivation The word Motivation derives from the Latin word “Movere”. The Latin word “Movere” means “To move”, “To drive” or “To drive forward” etc. Motivation can be defined as stimulating, inspiring and inducing the employees to perform to their best capacity. Motivation is a psychological term which means it cannot be forced on employees. It comes automatically from inside the employees as it is the willingness to do the work. Joe Kelly defined Motivation as “Motivation is a process where by needs instigate behavior directed towards the goals that can satisfy those needs.” According to W. G. Scot, “Motivation means a process of stimulating people to action to accomplish the desired goals.” According to Michael J. Jucius, “Motivation is the act of stimulating someone or oneself to get a desired course of action, to push the right button to get a desired results.” Process of Motivation Unsatisfied Continue reading
Management Basics
Committee Organizational Structure
A committee organization is an association of people set up to arrive at solutions to common problems. The line people are given opportunities to discuss their problems in the committee. The committee organizational structure is not like line or functional organization, but is similar to staff organization. Its decisions are implemented, whereas staff decisions are not necessarily implemented. It is a formal part of the organizational structure wherein the members are specifically mentioned. For example, the Finance Committee will include all the functional managers, viz. Marketing Manager, Production Manager, Personnel Managers, etc. as members, and the Managing Director as the Chairman. It will decide the financial requirements of each and every department. The decisions taken by the committee are followed by the line people, as the committees are representatives of various functional departments. Committee organizational structure provides integrated ideas of various related people of the company. Participative management in Continue reading
Henri Fayol’s Principles of Management
Henri Fayol (1841-1925) who is known as the Father of Modern Management, was a French industrialist who developed a framework for studying management. He wrote “General and Industrial Management”. His five functions of managers were plan, organize, command, coordinate, and control. Classification of Business Activities According to Fayol, all activities could be classified into Technical (manufacturing or production) Commercial (buying, selling and exchange) Financial (search for and optimum use of capital) Security (protection of property and persons) Accounting (including statistics) and Managerial Henri Fayol’s Principles of Management His fourteen principles of management included division of work, authority and responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, and subordination of individual interests to general interests, remuneration of personnel, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, and stability of tenure of personnel, initiative, and esprit de corps (union is strength). 1. Division of Work The work of every person in the organization should be Continue reading
Operational Decisions – Meaning and Characteristics
Operational decisions are what make your business strategy real and ensure that your organization runs effectively, right down to the front-lines interacting with your associates. To ensure that operational decisions are effective, you need to manage operational decision making. Operational decisions helps the organization to understand some fundamental cost-volume relationship relate to the operation in the company. In operational decision making, the decision makers have to consider about volume, latency, variability, managing risk, self service and personalized. Volume is the number of decisions of a specific type that decision makers made must be high. The volume can cause problems or exacerbate another decision problem, such as compliance and risk assessment. Besides that, latency means when you could foresee problem is coming but still couldn’t change how you are going to make decision in time. So you might have an operational problem. The change in mind-set required is akin to the Continue reading
Management by Objectives (MBO) – Definition, Advantages and Disadvantages
Many approaches have been utilized to integrate individual and group goals with overall goals of the organization of an enterprise. Management by Objectives (MBO) is basically a process whereby the superior and subordinate managers of an enterprise jointly (i) identify its common goals, (ii) define each individuals major areas of responsibility in terms of results expected of him, and (iii) use these measures as guides for operating the unit (or enterprise) and assessing the contribution of each of its members. The goals are jointly established by the manager and his subordinates and agreed upon in advance. These goals emphasize either output variables or intervening variables, or some combination of both. At the end of the pre-decided time period, the subordinate’s performance is reviewed in relation to preset goals. Both superior and the subordinate participate in this review/evaluation. If, after evaluation it is found that there is some discrepancy between the Continue reading
Centralization – Meaning, Advantages and Disadvantages
Centralization of Authority In any business organization, concentration of authority and powers in the hands of top management is referred to as centralization, everything which goes to reduce the importance of subordinates role in an organization is known as centralization. In such a type of office organization, the authority and powers of each and every activity lies in the hands of top few, say office manager and his immediate subordinate, and other subordinates play the second and subsequent fiddles. In fact, they are not to play any role. Instead they asked to work and only work according to the dictates of what the boss wants and orders. Centralization of the powers in respect of planning and control in not a new thing in any management. But centralization refers to the reduction of subordinates to a naught. Thus, treatment accorded to them is only that of a machine. Subordinates are asked Continue reading