Management Discussion Questions
Management Grid
Management grid refers to the traditional business leadership model, designed by Jane Mouton and Robert Blake in the early 1960ies. The core feature of this model is identification of the five various approaches to leadership, which are either people of production-focused (Bateman & Snell, 2015). Thus, this model identifies five main approaches to leadership:
Impoverished style (now known as ‘indifferent’) – the managers prioritize their seniority and status, having little or no concerns for company efficiency (production) and people of the organization (stakeholders). Innovation is neglected in such scenario.
County club style (now known as ‘accommodating’) - the managers have high concerns for the staff, and prioritize comfort and security of the employees over the company interests. As a result, the team may be friendly, but not effective.
“Middle-of-the road” (now known as status quo style) – under this leadership approach the managers attempt to balance interests of the company and employees.
Team style implies high concern and attitude both to the production. People are not separated from the company.
Stages of Group Development
One of the most comprehensive theories of group development was developed by Bruce Tuckman in 1965. In accordance with his framework, team development involves the following stages:
Forming – this stage is meeting of the group and development of the common goals, mission and vision.
Storming – at this stage the team resolves potential internal conflicts, removes parasites from its ranks and test leadership capabilities of the group managers.
In the norming stage members of the team focus on achieving mutual goals, refining motivation and knowledgeability.
Performing – at this stage, the team members are organized, completely knowledgeable, motivated and competent to carry out the tasks. Operational dissent of the individual group members is acceptable, as long as it remains a method of sound criticism and productivity enhancement.
Conflict Management Styles
Kilman and Thomas developed a framework of five approaches to conflict management.
Competing model means that the contestants act in an assertive manner trying to accomplish its goals. One party is always a winner and the second is a looser.
Accommodating style of conflict management purports that one side yields to a position of another one.
Collaborative approach means that the contestants attempt uniting their resources and accomplish goals of the both sides.
Composing involves seeking a compromise decision by the parties.
Avoiding method of conflict management means that a party (or both) eludes finding a solution and repetitively delay making a decision.
Company Vision by Collins and Porras
The framework, developed by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, is one of the most recent attempts to define organizational vision of the modern companies (Bateman & Snell, 2015). Thus, in accordance with their findings, the critical components of a successful modern corporation are:
Core values – a set of fundamental principles, which are never changed within an organization.
Core purpose – similarly to the first aspect, core purpose of an organization remains unchanged throughout lifespan of a company.
BHAG refers to the necessity of having ambitious goal and strategy of accomplishing these goals.
Vivid description means that that the organization should be capable of describing the feelings associated with achievement of their objectives.
The Greatest Management Principle in the World
The book “Greatest Management Principle in the World” by one of the most outstanding consultants to many Fortune 500 companies Michael Le Boeuf is one of the greatest summaries of effective HR management techniques and a must-have reading for a modern company leader.
Among the key messages sent by the author are:
Risk-taking is always better than avoidance.
Quality work is much better than a fast one.
Financial rewards and incentives are not necessarily the most effective.
Outwardly, bizarre employees are often the greatest human assets an organization may have.
All employees are different, and each member of a team should be approached individually.
MBTI Type
The MBTI test revealed that among 16 personalities, my type is logistician. The key advantages of this psychological pattern are the following:
These people are more observant, meaning that almost all actions are backed by experience.
Approach to work is based on judging rather than prospecting.
At the same time, there is one serious weakness of this personality type. Thus, the identity is turbulent, implying that although the decisions are well thought out, quite often the causes of these decisions are impulsive.
Types of Professional Empowerment
Job rotation means systematic change of professional duties between employees of an organization. Enlargement refers to quantitative increase of the amount of similar tasks performed by the employees. Job enrichment means increase of the tasks qualitatively, i.e. by adding new types of job duties. These forms of professional empowerment make employees more qualified, expand their expertise, responsibility and enhance discipline.
Advantages and disadvantages of media communication
Advantages include:
Instantaneity
Cross-border and transcontinental opportunities
Ability to communicate with disabled people
At the same, disadvantages are the following:
Security issues
Transparency and lack of confidentiality
Technology may malfunction
Ways to improve oral presentation and persuasion skills
The following methods of enhancing presentation and public speaking skills are considered the most effective:
Reading books and journals, written by the business communication gurus. The works of Dale Carnegies are especially recommended.
Attending workshops and professional seminars.
Taking a job, which involves much communication.
Publishing personal YouTube videos on a topic of interest.
Joining the local debate club.
Practicing incessantly
Bibliography
Bateman, Thomas S., and Scott Snell. Management: leading & collaborating in a competitive world. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2015.
