Management has become a part and parcel of everyday life, be it at home, in the office or factory and in government. In all organizations, where group of human beings assemble for a common purpose, management principles come into play through the management of resources, finance and planning, priorities, policies and practice. Management is a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort. Efficacious and effective management is not possible without in-depth knowledge of the organisation which is being managed. Organisational knowledge is absolutely critical to building, preserving and leveraging institutional excellence. It is like the air you breathe-you cannot measure it, touch it, or see it but you cannot survive without it. The basic elements of management are always there whether we manage our lives or our business. In fact, management is used knowingly or unknowingly by everybody born as human being on this earth. Continue reading
Management Theories
The Competing Values Framework
Competing models of management refer to those models that attempt to explain the competing value framework of organizational management. The organizational management sometimes faces the management challenge of balancing between two or more important processes that affect the operation of an organization. The competing values framework is a model that was developed by Robert Quinn and Kim Cameron to assess the organizational culture. The theory of competing values framework, in essence, shows the interrelationship between processes that enable the organization to focus on the internal environment or external environment. The area of focus of an organization leads to the development of the organizational culture and often results in a balancing of two or more competing value factors. This implies that the organizational competing values framework models have a role in the success of an organization. The competing values framework can be used in constructing an organizational culture profile. An organizational Continue reading
Theories of Motivation: Vroom’s Valence-Expectancy Theory
Vroom’s expectancy theory was originally developed by Victor H. Vroom, a Canadian psychologist, in 1964. Attacking Herzberg’s two-factor theory, Vroom offered an expectancy approach to the understanding of motivation. According to him, a person’s motivation towards an action at any time would be determined by an individual’s perception that a certain type of action would lead to a specific outcome and his personal preference for this outcome. Vroom’s expectancy theory consisted of two related models – the valence model and the force model. The valence model attempts to capture the perceived attractiveness, or valence, of an outcome by aggregating the attractiveness of all associated resultant outcomes. The force model of expectancy theory attempts to capture motivational force to act by associating the expectancy of resultant outcomes and their individual valences. These two models gave Vroom the opening to build his expectancy theory to the level that it is today most 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
Six Elements of Organizational Design
Organizational design is a process of developing and changing the organization’s structure by its managers. It is a chart containing the reporting structure i.e. who reports to whom. Organizational structure is thus a framework on which an organization is patterned for coordinating and carrying out organizational tasks. Organizational design involves decisions about the following six elements: 1. Work Specialization: Work specialization describes to which the overall task of the organization is broken down and divided into smaller component parts. For example, one person would paint a wall and another person fixes a door. So by breaking jobs up into small tasks, it could be performed over and over every 10 seconds while using employees who had relatively limited skills. The main thought of this process is that the entire job is not done by an individual and it is broken down into steps, and a different person completes each step. Continue reading
Line and Staff Organization – Meaning, Features, and Advantages
A line and staff organization is a mixture of the line as well as staff organization. Line organization points out direct vertical relationships, i.e., superior-subordinate relationship connecting the positions at each level. It forms a chain of command or hierarchy of authority on scalar principles. A line relationship is simply known as a relationship of authority between the superior and subordinates in a hierarchical arrangement. The direct line superior has control over his immediate subordinates. In this case, authority flows downward and accountability goes upward in a straight line. The work also flows in a direct line. The line offices are responsible for accomplishing basic objectives, so that they can issue orders and implement plans and policies with the help of their subordinates. They are authorized to maintain discipline. The line organization maintains direct communication from the higher to lower levels and vice versa. If it is useful for Continue reading