This approach to motivation has been pioneered in the USA by Edwin Locke and his associates in 1960s and refined in 1980s. Goal-setting theory of motivation suggests that managers and subordinates should set goals for an individual on a regular basis, as suggested by Management by Objectives (MBO). These goals should be moderately difficult and very specific and of type that an employee will accept and make a commitment to accomplishing them. Rewards should be tied directly to accomplished goals. When involved in goal-settings, employees see how their effort will lead to performance, rewards and personal satisfaction. Salient features of Goal-setting theory of motivation are as follows: Specific goal fixes the needs of resources and efforts. It increases performance. Difficult goals result higher performance than easy job. Better feedback of results leads to better performances than lack of feedback. Participation of employees in goal has mixed result. Participation of Continue reading
Management Concepts
Contingency Approach to Management
The contingency approach to management emerged from the real life experience of managers who found that no single approach worked consistently in every situation. The basic idea of this approach is that number management technique or theory is appropriate in all situations. The main determinants of a contingency are related to the external and internal environment of an organisation. The process, quantitative, behavioral, and systems approaches to management did not integrate the environment. The often assumed that their concepts and techniques have universal applicability. For example the process theorists often assumes that strategic planning applies to all situations; the quantitative experts generally feel that linear programming can be used under all conditions; the behavioral theorist usually advocates participative goal setting for all superior-subordinate pairs; and the system advocates tend to emphasize the need for computerized information flows in all situations. On the other hand practicing managers find out that a Continue reading
The Pros and Cons of Outsourcing
Outsourcing involves assigning some of the business tasks or a department to another business. This is done when a business cannot handle all of its activities internally. They can also do so in search for expertise of a specific task. The businesses that are mostly involved in outsourcing include manufacturing, logistics, customer services, recruitment, web designing, information, content development and technology maintenance among others. The factors that influence decision making on outsourcing includes staff, finances, information characteristics, agreement issues, and vendor issues. Out sourcing involves two businesses which come in to a contractual agreement to exchange services for payment. A business contacts another business to carry out a particular task and in return they pay for the services provided with. Business people do outsource in order to get time to do other significant roles. This saves time and can allow a business person to do other businesses thus increasing his profits. Continue reading
Managing Environmental Uncertainties in Business
Recent years have had a distinctive progressive pace of development, and with such rates of creating innovations, environmental issues have been on the rise. Along with the rapid decrease in ecology quality, many regulations and policies for its preservation are created, which directly affect business enterprises. Therefore, an ability to quickly react to the uprising environmental issues and the potential to solve them with benefits for the company has become a driving factor in the success of corporations. Managers are one of the primary people in enterprises who become affected by environmental uncertainty, as they must be fast to respond to the issues, create new regulations and adjust to current events in no time. When talking about uncertainty, it is hard to collect sufficient information and plan strategies that are undoubtedly effective; therefore, managers face significant challenges while future planning is connected with environmental needs and changes. Each corporation chooses Continue reading
Leadership vs. Management: Understanding the Differences
The difference between leader and manager can be summarized this way: “When you are a leader, you work from the heart. As a manager, you work from the head.” Although it is probably more complex than that, the point to remember is the difference between what you do as a leader and what you do as a manager-and the constant need to be able to do both. Furthermore, the head and heart need to be partners, not independent operators. A manager focuses attention on efficiency, effectiveness, and making sure the right things happen at the right time. For instance: You are in a manager role when you set performance objectives with staff, prepare budgets, review cash flow projections, develop action plans, and evaluate programs or fund raising strategies or any other aspect of the company. Managing may also include doing hundreds of other tasks that require focused and logical attention Continue reading
Absence of Organizational Structure and Its Impacts
Organizational structure, a popular phenomenon in the dynamic business world, can be defined as the manner in which a company allocates its management responsibilities and how different activities are coordinated within the firm. The structure of an organization will always influence its success. A well-devised strategic and operational framework is more likely to enable the company to attain its objectives easily than a roughly sketched one. Small enterprises generally start without a formal organogram but gradually add hierarchical corporate entries with departments, executives, and other subordinate minions as the business expands, thus realizing improved performance. On the contrary, the absence of such a setting in a business implicates operational inefficiencies that may eventually push it out of the market as a result of competition. High Rate of Turnover – Employee turnover, often known as staff renewal rate, is a problem in which employees quit their jobs frequently and in large Continue reading