Culture is often said “to eat strategy for breakfast” the implication that, regardless of how good a strategy is, unless specific initiatives are concentrated on changing people’s attitudes, behaviours and work practices, the strategy will fail. Understanding culture of an organisation can be quite the task especially in large companies with a number of employees and staff being very diverse culturally. With the help of Cultural Models, understanding the cultural situation becomes easier. Following are some of the existing Cultural Models. 1. Edgar Schein’s Model Edgar Schein’s model is one such which helps interpret what the cultural position is within the firm. To Schein, culture is dynamic and multi-faceted; it cannot be easily judged as good/bad, strong/weak, or effective/ineffective. Culture is contextual and lives within us as individuals as well as within groups of people. Edgar Schein believed that as employees go through various changes and adapt to the external Continue reading
Management Theories
Benefits and Drawbacks of Scientific Management Theory
Management has changed from traditional methods to more modern forms of leadership. The change has been brought by the need to change and to try to make the organizations work better. Different approaches to organizational design can affect the company’s work differently, so the management style should be chosen individually for each case, depending on the organization’s goals. One of the options is scientific management, based on applying scientific theories and principles to design work in organizations. Since the early 20th century, scientific management has been at the forefront of organizational design. The design development was spearheaded by Frederick W. Taylor, who aimed to boost workplace productivity using scientific techniques. Scientific management has substantially influenced work design in contemporary companies, with its virtues and flaws under everyday discussion. The prediction of scientific management is based on the notion that efficiency in the workplace may be increased via scientific methodologies and Continue reading
Delegation of Authority – Concept, Features, Advantages and Barriers
The process of assignment of specific work to individuals within the organization and giving them the right to perform those works is delegation. Delegation of authority is one of the most significant concepts in management practice, which affects managerial functions. Management is the art of getting things done through others and delegation means to get the results through the subordinates. The expansion of business volume and diversification of line of business makes it impracticable to handle all the business by a single manager. Therefore, the concept of delegation of some managerial authority to subordinates comes into practice in present day business organizations. Here, the manager delegates some of his authority to his subordinates. This helps in developing a feeling of dedication to the work among the subordinates. The top level management plays only the role of a supervisor and visits them to provide guidance, suggestions and instructions. It minimizes the Continue reading
Theories of Motivation: Alderfer’s Existence-Relatedness-Growth (ERG) Model
Serious doubts have been expressed about the existence of the five distinct need categories, which Maslow hypothesized. There seems to be some overlapping between esteem, social, and physiological needs. Also, the lines between esteem, social, and self-actualization needs are not entirely clear. With these points in mind, Clayton Alderfer condensed Maslow’s five need categories into three sets: The existence Needs: Over here material existence requirements are mentioned. This group is the same as what has been called by Maslow physiological and safety needs. In an organizational context the existence needs are satisfied by money earned in a job and spending them to obtain foods, clothing, shelter etc. Relatedness Needs: An employee desire to maintain important interpersonal relationships with pears, superiors and subordinates in work context can be termed as relatedness needs. Relatedness for an employee in an organization context includes the need to interact with peers, receive recognition from the Continue reading
14 Tips on How to Build Effective Teams
When building a team, you need to make sure individuals are aware of their job role and responsibilities and if so, who’s taking leadership and who’s accountable for each task. There needs to be clear lines of responsibility and authority. Individuals must be aware of what task needs to be achieved, when and how they are going to accomplish this. Team members should have the required skills to be able to carry out tasks and duties effectively. To build a team you need to gain each individual trust and loyalty, making them feel part of the team so that individuals do not feel fearful of people in leadership roles. The leader should clarify the purpose and set clear goals where team members work towards common goals which are clearly communicated and agreed. There are many techniques to help build a team such as valuable ideas, which means when working in Continue reading
Comparison of Classical and Behavioral Approaches to Management
Management has been as old as the human beings and with the evolvement of humans management has also evolved. The history of management and its theories can be traced back to thousands of years. However, systematic development of the theories of management is generally viewed from the end of nineteenth century with the emergence of large industrial organizations and the ensuing problems associated with their structure and management. This is the time when work of various writers on the management has started to come into the light. These works can be clubbed together to form different approaches to the theory of management. Two of the most popular and widely accepted approaches to management are: Classical Approach to Management, and Behavioral Approach or Human Relation Approach to Management In order to be able to compare and understand the contrast of these two approaches to management, let’s understand the basics of these Continue reading