Task
Management has been described as a process that involves the responsibility for an economical and effective planning and regulation of all the activities of an enterprise with a goal of fulfilling a given purpose. Its also defines as a dynamic process that consists of a number of elements and activities that are different from the operative functions such as finance, marketing etc. Different scholars have come up with different functions of management but our discussion will majorly rely on the work of Koontz and O’ Donnel who described the functions of management as Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing and Controlling (8).
Planning is defined as a basic function of management that deals with determining a future course of action and deciding way in advance the particular course of action to be taken to attain a particular predetermined goal. According to Koontz and O’Donnell, planning involves deciding in advance the most appropriate course of action for the achievement of the organizations goals and objectives.
The main role of staffing is to fit the right man on the right job at the right time. According to, Koontz and O’Donnell staffing involves manning the organizational structure through proper and effective selection, appraisal and development of personnel to fill the roles that have been designed in the organization (9). It involves, human resource planning, training and development, recruitment and selection, remuneration, performance appraisal and promotion and transfer.
Directing is a managerial function that deals with influencing, guiding, motivation, supervising etc. It enables the organization to work in particular way since the people at the top influence the behavior of all the others in the organization. It has the following elements. Supervision- this is overseeing the job of the subordinates by superiors’. Motivation-it’s encouraging the subordinate with zeal to work; it ensures that people in an organization are ready to take responsibilities and re happy about their work.
Leadership-As will be explained later, leadership is a process by which a manager will guide and influence the work of subordinates in a given direction, while controlling is the measurement of attainment of goals and objectives against a given standard and correction of any deviations from those standards. Control systems can either be concurrent feedback controls or feed forward controls. An effective control system should be able to predict a deviation before it actually occurs.
With this background in mind, we can now explore how to manage people and organizations while emphasizing our focus on the best practice during this period of economic downturn. The period of economic downturn has seen many organizations go under and others still remain afloat despite all the challenges. While other factors may contribute to the continuity of an organization or otherwise, during this period, management is to play a great role in ensuring that an organization is sound, even with the current state of economic affairs.
For the organization to survive the current trend of economic affairs, the attention of management must be drawn to five key areas of managing in their organizations. These key areas are the management of human capital, management of customers, clients and stakeholders, management of financial resources, management of competition and finally the management of the environment (Koontz, O’Donnell 25-30). These areas are explained as under:
Human capital is probably the most important resource in any organization and thus its management is of critical importance. Employees are the ambassadors of an organization and will sell the policies of an organization to the outside world or even affect the organization and its efforts negatively. The role of an effective human resource policy should be to maximize return on investments in the organizational human resources and also effectively reduce the risks of financial losses. This is done by attempting to match the supply of skilled and qualified staff to the organizations demands for such work force. The human resource management should implement the organizations requirements effectively while taking into consideration the state, federal or even labor laws and regulations, while also practicing ethical business practices in a manner that maximizes the employee motivation, productivity and commitment.
The management of human capital has a number of elements such as human resource planning, training and development, recruitment and selection, remuneration, performance appraisal and promotion and transfer.
Human resource planning-this involves deciding the number and qualification of future staff. With the current economic trends, the need to conduct a proper human resource planning cannot be overlooked. In fact, just as failing to address a potential threat in advance can jeopardize a business, failing to anticipate personnel needs can easily impact on the overall success of a business. Its said that the success of a business depends on the success of those who are employed in that business.
In these hard economic times, hiring the wrong people or even failing to anticipate the fluctuations in hiring needs can be very costly thus it’s imperative that human resource planning be emphasized.
Recruitment and selection-after successfully predetermining the needs of the organizations in terms of human resources, its upon the management of human resources to select and recruit the right staff. This involves a thorough an rigorous selection process that involves advertisement of the vacant positions, receipt [of applications, processing of applications, interviews, selection of the right candidates and offering of the position to those right candidates. The organizations must make sure that they hire people with the right skills to cater for the organizations needs.
Training and development- in order to make maximum benefits from the staff in the organization, all staff must be properly trained to be able to handle their particular jobs. Proper training of employees also increases their efficiency and productivity to the benefit of the organization.
Remuneration, performance appraisal and promotion and transfer- this involves deciding on the salary that an employee shall get. The employee will be compensated according to their level of experience and contribution to the organization. Caution should be taken in this area since a poor remuneration policy may have irreparable impact on the organization.
Performance appraisal is done to evaluate the performance of employees so as to identify the level of competence, the training needs of the employees, and for the purposes of promotions, salary increments etc. this should be done objectively and all staff should be given an opportunity to discuss the results of their appraisal.
Management of customers-as has been said by many authors, customer is always be king in any business. All efforts in an organization must always be geared towards attraction and retention of customers; this is because the business exists because of the customers. Management of customers is the backbone of the operational function of marketing and involves among others, the following issues:
Product-the company must produce and deliver a customer oriented product. In fact, the organization must conduct a thorough market research to understand the products that customers demand, in what quantities, what prices they want to pay etc.
In brief, the following elements must be considered in deciding the product
Brand name- the organization must have a brand name that is known amongst the other players in the industry. A famous brand name such as Coca-Cola actually sells the products of the company
Packaging- packaging of the product also presents a unique opportune for the company to ensure that it markets its brand as appropriate.
Warranty- a company that gives a warranty for its products is likely to win a customers confidence and loyalty to its products.
Safety- safe products are a responsibility of any organization. It’s actually against the requirements of the regulatory bodies and business ethics for an organization to offer unsafe products.
Pricing- the prices that a company offers in the market will have a great impact on the response of the customers to that particular product. The organization may adopt different pricing strategies to sustain its products in the market such as volume/wholesale pricing, seasonal pricing, flexible pricing strategies etc. This always ensures that the customers are able to afford products in the market.
Placing- this is the method of distribution that an organization used to reach its target customer groups. Management of these channels can result to great reduction in the costs of marketing and also increase the efficiency of the company.
Promotion- in managing the customers, it’s important that the organization engages in aggressive marketing and promotion exercises to create awareness of the company’s products to its customers. Proper utilization of marketing and promotion media can easily lead to success of an organization.
Promotion can be done through advertising media such as audio, visual or audiovisual channels or even print media. Other media for promotion can also be used where appropriate.
Management of customers is important in ensuring that customer numbers are increased and sustained for the long-term survival of the business. In a financial downturn as is being experienced, an organization cannot afford to lose its most valued customers (Schein, 20).
Management of financial resources
A company always has limited resources to be utilized in ensuring that its goals and objectives are attained. It’s thus of critical importance that the organization does all within its means to ensure that these scarce resources are managed well to the benefit of its stakeholders. The organization can employ a number of measures to ensure prudent management of financial resources. This can be done through:
i) Increasing efficiency- this requires the organization to use the available resources vey sparingly and to ensure that loses are minimized or eliminated. It can be done by ensuring proper accountability of all expenditures in the organization. An organization cannot afford to lose money when there is actually not enough money in the organization. Proper monitoring of all projects and expenditures to ensure that only eligible expenditure is undertaken will go a long way in ensuring that financial resources are properly managed.
ii) Use of proper financial management tools such as budgets- the company must ensure that reasonable and realistic budgets are drawn for all aspects of incomes and expenditures. Efforts should also be put towards ensuring that such budgets are maintained and strictly followed. Any deviations from the budgets should be noted and corrective actions taken in reasonable time.
The company must put in place adequate measures to ensure that very stringent financial management policies are put in place to increase efficiency of the company. For instance, the company may have a procurement policy manual and a procurement committee. This ensures that the company is able to source its purchases from the most cost effective suppliers.
Management of competition
Competition drives out enterprises from business if not well managed. To stay a head of competition, an organization must ensure that it has a superior product, service or a superior marketing network. The organization must also ensure that it understands the business, industry product or service and make improvements from the conventional products in the market so as to be able to beat competition and stay a head of the pack even as the economic times continue to deteriorate.
Management of the environment- An organization doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s surrounded by an environment which is either directly or indirectly affected by the actions of the organization. The company can manage the environment by engaging in corporate social responsibility activities, creating employment, sustaining the environment among other. Such actions can almost guarantee the long term survival of the organization. Management of the environment is also key in ensuring that the organization is not on a collision course with the authorities and regulatory institutions (Davis, 20).
Question 2
Organizational behavior is a broad area in management. It’s defined as the study of the behavior of humans in an organizational set up. It also explores how human beings interact with the organizations and also among themselves in that organization. In studying human behavior in an organization, it’s also important to understand the organization and its influences on the individual behavior otherwise such study will be one sided (Heinz, Koontz 50). For a comprehensive and detailed understanding of human behavior in organizations, one needs to ask some relevant questions and attempt to find answers to these questions so as to fully understand the concept and relevance of the study of organizational behavior.
Some of these questions are:
i) Why is the study of organizational behavior important to a manager?
ii) What influences the behavior of people in an organization?
iii) How can the management of an organization manage change and development in an organization?
iv) How can conflicts in an organization be avoided, or rather used for the benefit of the organization?
An attempt to answer these questions will lead a researcher to explore in depth, the concept of organizational behavior and get a proper understanding of the concepts explained above.
The study of organizational behavior is important in the management of an organization and to the manager himself as explained below: The study of organizational behavior will help a manager to be able to understand their duties, functions and roles in an organization. This will enable managers to do their duties very diligently.
It helps the management of the organization to understand the staff in place, to understand the needs and expectations of each and every person in the company, their roles and duties and the expectations of the company from each stakeholder.
Management is also able to manage diversity and change in an organization. The study of this subject equips the management of an organization with the necessary skills and attitude to introduce and successfully manage change in an organization.
Conflict resolution is also addressed in the study of organizational behavior and thus skills of conflict resolution as learnt will help the management to resolve conflicts in an organization
Leadership and motivation- theories of leadership and motivation that are learnt in organizational behavior will help management in positively influencing the behavior of staff and also providing motivation and sound leadership in the organization.
The behavior of people in an organization is influenced by a multiple of factors. Key among them is the leadership. There are various leadership styles that may be adopted by a manager. According to Kurt Lewin, there are three leadership styles that may be adopted by a leader. These include authoritarian/autocratic leadership- these leaders provide clear expectations of whatever needs to be done when and how it should be done. There is usually a clear division between the leader and the follower and an authoritarian leader is likely to make a decision on his own.
Participative Leadership (Democratic)
In this type of leadership, people are free to make their own decisions and their input in the organization is considered. It’s generally the most effective leadership according to Kurt Lewin. Participative leaders will allow group members to participate in the decision making. Members feel engaged and part of the organization and the process as well (Heinz, Koontz 50).
Laissez-faire- in this type of leadership, the leader provides little guidance to members and leaves them to do as they wish. This style of leadership is only effective among highly qualified, committed and disciplined employees. As explained above, the types of leadership affects the behavior of staff in an organization.
Other determinants of organizational behavior are the organizational structure, the organizational culture, and technology in an organization among others.
Change in an organization is inevitable. Management must ensure that change is effectively managed for the benefit of the organization otherwise it can be costly in the organization.
Managers manage change by ensuring that the change is properly studied before implementation. It must also ensure that all parties are properly briefed of the imminent change and contingent measures put in place to counter the negative effects of this change (Koch, 55).
Implementation of the change is supposed to be a very well managed process so as to ensure that it’s a smooth process and resistance to change is minimized or effectively eliminated.
Conflict in an organization ha both negative and positive impacts on the organization in general, Whichever the impact on the organization, conflicts must be properly managed since poor management of conflicts may have a detrimental impact on the organization. Some of positive impacts of conflict in an organization include: increased performance in terms of utilizing scarce resources and achieving of organizational objectives. Conflicts also plays a role in ensuring decision making outcomes are better, especially those involving task related conflicts and increasing productivity through constructive criticism (John, Davis 55). Conflict also ensures exchange of ideas and enables better performance among group members.
Answering of the above question gives a proper perspective of the subject of organizational behavior to both managers and non managers. It’s important for everyone involved in an organization clearly understands the principles underlying organizational behavior for the benefits of individuals and organizations.
References
Heinz Weihrich , Harold Koontz “Management: A global perspective”, McGraw Hill. The University of Wisconsin, 2008
Harold Koontz, Cyril O'Donnell. “Principles of management: an analysis of managerial functions”. McGraw Hill. The University of Wisconsin, 2008
Davis. “Organization Behavior: Human Behavior at Work”. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993
Davis. “Human relations at work: The dynamics of organizational behavior” 9th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill ,2005
Koch. “The New Science of Change”. CIO Magazine, Sep 15, 2006 (pp 54-56).
John, Davis, Keith “Organizational Behavior: Human Behavior at Work. New York: McGraw-Hill. 2007
Schein. “Organizational Socialization and the Profession of Management” Industrial Management Review, 1968 vol. 9 pp. 1-15
