Introduction
Critical Management Studies (CMS) is founded on the idea that there is only one way to manage and that only a prescribed path of following the leading thinkers in the area will produce a positive outcome. As I begin my process of opening a Public Market I am finding that several different management styles and theories are necessary and not one size fits each situation. In an attempt to use the learned critical management studies for the new business venture I am finding that Critical Management Studies are helping in understanding what is involved in beginning a business, it is helpful with dealing with the vast number of vendors, and it is helpful in directly me to path to the goal of a self-sustaining grassroots effort in our community. As I go through the weeks of the process with the Critical management Skills I hope to end up with a successful project management outline and an achievement of my goals.
Along the way the path became quite difficult and I began to question whether the Critical Management Skills were going to help or hurt in the process. At the same time I began to look at the critics of the Critical Management Studies in a study by Fournier and Gray . In this study they depict Critical Management Studies as a ‘fragmented and slippery domain’. So in the next few days I began to doubt that CMS was helping to produce the correct results. However, after some contemplation, the problems in the startup of the business aside, I was not ready to give up on critique as the worthwhile path to accomplish the goal.
In this first week I became introduced to a new way of thinking and the concepts of critical thinking and analysis. CMS developed in my thinking a new perspective as to how to organize and infuse the project that I am considering into a full-fledged business venture. Prior to this introduction my thoughts were on the negative aspects but learning to think critically about the factors the venture has started to formalize. In an attempt to use the new subject matter the introduction to CMS involved knowing a little about Karl Marx and his theory of orthodox Marxism.
Karl Marx is often discredited because of his theory of communism. But discounting the political theories that have not added to the society as he would have liked, he went on to formulate the theories that we have looked at currently. However, he offers a theory on globalization and on the business the produces the most for the greatest number of people rather than an individual. The Public Market that I am involved in is doing just that. It is a grassroots effort to involve people from the area into the economies of the area and introduce people to the offerings in an area.
The movement toward the development of local public markets is not a new one as the first stores and retail establishments date back to the times the Jesus walked the earth. The potential impact on the local economy includes many direct benefits as the profits to business owners and the job creation help the people who are marginalized increase their standard of living. The public market contains indirect benefits also as it will stimulate the local economy and enhance the area and local parks.
In summary for Week One my idea to proceed with the Public Market in our local community will continue using the critical thinking of Karl Marx in that the most successful and useful business endeavors are those enable the greatest number of people to benefits. It appears through the research on the public market spaces that this will help the marginalized members of society to contribute to the local economy.
This week involves the process of emancipation. Emancipation is a product of the Karl Marx theory and knowing that the market is for the greater good. Emancipation is the process by which people become free from repressive social and ideological conditions, especially those that place socially unnecessary restrictions on the development of the human consciousness. .In reviewing how the market might help to emancipate people I was confronted by the story of the women from Malaysia who weave beautiful plant hangers for their family income. This is a talent that they brought with them to provide in America for their families. The women spoke to me about the stories that they heard about America’s roads being paved with gold. However once they got here, although it is much better than in their country they are still asking for the location of the streets of gold.
The decision to place the market in an affluent neighborhood was made at this point. The women are located in a refugee area and although their products are unique and beautiful, no one in their area has the funds to purchase them. So in order to allow these women a chance to participate in capitalism at it’s finest, they have been offered a market spot in the public market in an affluent market. This is an attempt to liberate these women form the oppression conditions of the economy that they find themselves in.
Karl Marx wrote a book on the oppression of women called, Marx on Gender and the Family: A Critical Study . Marx made an appeal to men to reach appoint in which women and men are valued for who they are and not an abstract theory of what they are expected to be . Having reviewed the Marx theory on the equality of women and it directed my thoughts to its validity in today’s society. The very real story of the refugee women was apparent but I began wondering if there would be an applicable means for the market for other women in society, as the refugee women as a lofty ideal is great but they will not be sufficient to produce economic success. So I researched Marx in terms of contemporary American women and found some results that were helpful in that Marx did not see women as just factory workers, but sought them out as an equal worker to men in society. Marx saw that the use of dialects was important method to study feminism and the character of the family and viewed gender as a subject to change and develop. So in the market space the role of women may change in the nature or their own families as the women may become the main provider for the family through their sale of goods.
Moving along with the public market planning, it began evident that a team was needed to divide up the tasks that need to be done and have some training of new recruits in place. In the Critical Management Studies, the team approach seems rather daunting. In building a team, there are many different personalities that need to meld together. The week I am learning that conflict can benefit teams as it encourages people to express new ideas which then lead to new and better ways than I had originally thought. What I went into thinking that it was a poor choice to add members actually is turning out to be a welcome addition to the project. Things that I had not thought of were coming out in the team conversation. It also seems the most effective to have three or four people together in the discussions as in a one on one the people tended to say what they think that I want to hear. In Conflict Management Studies the key issue is dealing with the team conflict in realizing it is not the conflict itself that it is but how the team handled the result. . Conflict resolution in teams appears to be one of the most important links in a successful project and team outcomes. The linkages between strategies for managing different types of conflict and group performance and satisfaction are very pronounced in this process. The results from a qualitative study of autonomous groups and the results was that three conflict resolution tendencies. The first is to focus on the content of interpersonal interactions rather than delivery style. Secondly the conflict discusses the reasons behind any decision reached in accepting and distributing work assignments and lastly assigning work to members who have the relevant expertise rather than assigning by others common means such as volunteering default or convenience. The study concluded that teams are successful over time. Since we are just starting out perhaps I am too anxious for positive results. And that over time the teams are more proactive in anticipating the need for conflict resolution. The pluralistic approach is to develop a strategy to resolve the conflicts that apply to all the group members.
A particular problem that we are having in the group is how to lay out the stands. Each group of course wants the best position and since the best position is the one with traffic flow it is difficult if not impossible to anticipate ahead of time where the best flow of traffic will be. Because we cannot provide that information ahead of time, some of the vendors took exception to that and refused to pay the rental fee until after the market opened. This of course is a problem because without the anticipated rental income the opening expenses will have to be managed another way.
Help was needed to resolve this conflict.
The thought of losing some of the team was a resolution that I was not prepared to make. If the group could be held together with a resolution to the conflicts that are involved would be an important investment for the market’s success. The team turnover is probably inevitable but there is a cost to develop a new membership that exhibits in time lost and then starting over with new ideas. I see this as harmful to the progress that we have made already. The collective experience that is pervasive in the team turnover and task conflict changes. It has been found that the collective experience the team had the less likely it was that team turnover associated with increases in task conflict. Since we are a small business venture, the theories that are helpful to large organizations do not apply when a few people are doing a massive task. Small group conflicts appear to be handled differently. One of the problems that we faced in the small group is the incapability of some of the people. Their personalities just seem to be at odds. When one laughs the other scorns, so this had to be dealt with some finesse. In addition the conflicts are showing up in some of the volunteers not knowing who to listen to or who to report to for work related issues. In conflict resolution studies the conflict depends on the team’s performance, Teams can be assigned reliable profiles for team performance in some cases but in others conflicts the team performance was negligible. For a greater performance it was necessary to deal with the smaller issues that were underlying the conflicts . The “team centric” approach is what was welcomed by this group. As with this way of solving the issues the individuals were encouraged to work together for the common goals. The common goal of providing the grassroots market was important to all of the members and so by talking things out they were able to resolve some personal issues.
After the conflicts that are exuberated in Week three are somewhat resolved attention was turned to the business of the market. Forms and professionals needed to be sought out for their guidance and legal structure of the business. It had been decided that the purchase of the property would be the first event and a group of investors was sought out as an impact investor. An impact investor is one that seeks to invest in an area that we provide the maximum use for the people. Since the market is a grassroots effort the investment in the local economy will yield positive results for the investors. The professionals are to be added to the growing number of volunteers. The structure of the market had to be revisited to add in the professionals and the growing number of departments and growing number of volunteers. There are four paradigms for organizational analysis and involving critical realism the Burrell and Morgan quadrants. Having learned this theory of dividing the organization into appropriate boxes helps to selectively divide the duties as they come up in the organizational process.
The paradigm divides the process into subjective and objective roles. The one paradigm moves toward anarchy and the other moves toward Marxism. The sociology of regulation accommodates the market development process. The professionals that are needed are in sharp comparison to the volunteers and the grassroots individual who are acting in an idealistic pursuit. The professional are moving toward a well-documented and established business enterprise, in order to grow on a sound footing. The development of the group is going along the path of a functional business approach.
This week was a power week as the many forces of the power struggle are evident. The Critical Management Studies are a preeminent theory in the power struggle that goes on in the team of professionals and volunteers and the slew of business professionals that are developing and growing the market concept using their own talents. I have found that a positive and supportive environment encourages the employees and volunteers to work well with each other and with the team. When I tried to manage with a strong and assertive position the group seemed to argue more than ever but while using a soft and supportive tone, group cohesion began to develop, and the power that was needed to make decisions was elicited from the group. I found that I did not have to demand the power it grew from managing a group of people who truly wanted a successful venture. Remembering the reason that is movement started , to help those in need, to establish a strong community presence, to facilitate products to market for farmers in the area, to teach the children better nutrition all seemed to work toward good reception with the team.
In addition to a change in the power structure, I found that letting more of a participatory approach opened the door to a more free discussion of ideas. Fewer conflicts got to the level of needing to be solved and resolved as the team approach was able to manage their differences and looked for leadership. Management is very powerful in its effect upon the lives of the employees, consumers, and citizens. They do not respond well to a management by a form or rationality.Since this effort involves many volunteers who spend their time freely the power of the leader needs to benevolent as the critical studies have shown. They do not respond well to the demands of an organization placed upon them.
This is the week for reflection as the project is moving along very well and it appears as though some time is needed by the professionals to get the paper work and everything else in order for the purchase and business opening. With that being the case this opportunity is being made to reflect on past mistakes and develop a leadership plan going forward that uses the implications of the critical management theories. It is in wonderment to achieve and hold together.
One of the topics in the critical management studies that were left to the wayside was that of advertising. Without customers to the market all endeavors are exercises in futility. The paradigm shifts to research on consumer behavior and in a building of a stream of information that creates a desirable consumer experience. The influence of consumer behavior in the public market scenario is the critical management aspect of which is important for success. Online consumer behavior is expected to rise in the current years so the embarking on a retail brick and mortar venture is somewhat unsettling. If the future is moving toward online buying will people still enjoy the village market experience in which the neighborhood comes together in a community project? Empirical studies on online shopping behavior had in the past been fragmented but there is an attempt to produce a model for online consumer behavior. For the impact of increasing the desire to shop in a market setting, in this week the consumerism of the market is important. The advertising needs to reach the consumer but the offerings will keep them coming and going. The market needs to be a destination for many of the community members as they bring about a shift in the paradigm back to the enjoyment of direct sales shopping experiences in the market.
Conclusion
The works of many authors have helped to create a framework to produce a grassroots community market. The effort has been in process for about two months and positive results are being seen. The actual opening is expected to be in about two more months. The critical management studies have helped to compartmentalize the process as a framework to involve a community based team approach. The team proceeded through several problems in getting along in the process of developing the market and in working together as a homogenous group.
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