Discussion Questions
1. What are the different types of plans that organizations use? What types of plans does your organization use and why does it use these plans?
Any organization uses the following types of plans:
a) Based on Departments/Areas – Plans for Marketing, Finance, & HR Department.
b) Based on Time – Such as:
i. Long-term plans – Made for 5 years or more. For example, to determine cash flow from capital investment in a project.
ii. Short-term plans – Plans formulated for less than a year.
c) Based on Organizational Levels – Such as:
i. Strategic Plans – Made by the top-level management for the entire organization addressing its vision, mission and planned strategy to achieve goals, based on its position in the environment through SWOT Analysis.
ii. Operational Plans - Guide the overall operations of the company in the form of operational manuals, work-flow procedures etc. They are usually linked to the shop-floor & departmental level.
As a start-up software company, beginning to put things together, we are mostly guided by the strategic plans in terms of our vision and mission as to where we are today and where we want to reach tomorrow. In the process, we also have our defined time-bound goals that make us formulate both short-term and long-term plans.
2. What are the steps in the planning process? Which step is the most crucial? Why?
They are as follows:
i. Establishing SMART goals to be achieved, for which plans are formulated. SMART – Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Tangible.
ii. Establishing Planning Premises to address likely future events, which may cause derailment from plans, such as changes in firm’s capital investment policy (controllable) and currency rate fluctuations (uncontrollable).
iii. Choosing the Best Alternative Course of Action based on a scientific feasibility analysis of all the available courses of action.
iv. Formulating Derivative Plans from the main plan that help in achieving it. For example, if reduced attrition is the main plan, the derivative plans would include offering competitive pay levels and objective appraisal systems etc.
v. Securing Co-operation of the employees who will put plan into action, by addressing their concerns through open communication and motivating them to perform happily.
vi. Follow-up/Appraisal of Plan to ascertain its effectiveness, based on the feedback received from the employees and or / departments implementing it.
The most crucial step is securing the co-operation of the people who would be driving it, since, their lack of conviction about the feasibility of the plan to produce the desired results, would invite half-hearted efforts leading to failure.
3. Do you think organizations can over plan? Explain your response.
Yes, over planning does take place, especially in the software industry where detailed plans for client projects are taken too seriously, causing many projects to fail. Actually, all project plans initially are considered accurate on “face value”, and never revised. Failure to consider the dynamism surrounding the software industry where things change immediately develops “complacency” amongst managers about the project delivery as reflected in the schedule they have prepared based on the plan. However, not updating the plan makes it fairly inaccurate as the project work progresses. This false information increases with absence of any concrete report card on the progress made, which is revealed when a critical deliverable misses its deadline.
Set 2: Three Questions
1. How do organizational functions affect organizational structures and how does your organization’s function affect its organizational structure?
Organizational functions are what the organization does – marketing, finance, production etc. each of which are departmentalized. On the other hand, organization structure is the formal line of authority spanning the company across different management levels in the form of scalar chain. It is usually depicted as an organizational chart. Organizational functions impact the organization structure, especially if they are organized around it, as with most of the companies. Here functions are organized department-wise, with each department reporting to its department manager, who in turn reports to someone else. In our company the functions are woven around an otherwise flat structure. For example, the iPhone & Android functions are integrated into one Developer Team headed by Senior Developer, who is managed by the Project Manager.
2. How do organizational structures affect organizational functions and how does your organization’s structure affect its organizational functions?
Because the organizational structure spans the organization passing through all management levels as a scalar chain, it influences formal relationships within different departments by forming an intra-departmental hierarchy. Thus, like a CEO has all departmental heads reporting to him, and occupies the topmost slot on the organizational chart. Similarly, the Marketing Department may be headed by a VP-Marketing, with the Marketing Manager reporting to him, who may in turn have Assistant Manager - Marketing under him.
My firm being a start-up has a pretty flat structure, because of a few employees. All of us report straight to our Project Manager, who in turn reports to the President. The structure defines our operational functions by forming an intra-departmental hierarchy where the Development Team comprises of both iPhone & Android teams, headed by one Senior Developer in both domains, with the Team Lead reporting to him. The Team Lead in turn manages a breed of Junior Developers including fresh college hires as Trainees. All these people are managed by the Project Manager.
3. What are the different types of organizational structures? Which type of structure do you think is the most effective and why?
Some of the common organizational structures are:
i. Functional Structure – Here, the functions; marketing, sales, finance etc. are organized department-wise, with each department reporting to its department manager, who in turn reports to someone else. The benefit is clarity of lines of authority. However, the customer could end-up hopping from one department to another if his problem does not relate to one particular function.
ii. Divisional Structure – Here, the functions are divided product-wise, or location-wise. So, the different product lines have their own marketing, R&D, sales & finance divisions. The benefit is availability of specialized employees to carry out all functions. However, the demerit is inefficiency that crops from similar nature of job in all divisions.
iii. Matrix Structure – Here, the employees despite working in a function-based department; finance or production, can get teamed up with colleagues in other departments and assigned projects by other managers outside their department. Thus, it is more flexible and quick to adapt to changing organizational needs.
Out of all these, matrix structure stands out for being the most contemporary due to its flexible nature and resilience towards dynamically changing organizational requirements, as it is increasingly being adopted worldwide as evident from increasing number of cross-functional teams assigned to projects.
Set 3: Four Questions
1. How do your organization’s leaders influence your organization’s culture?
Organizational culture refers to the shared values and beliefs of the employees that shape the overall personality of an organization, and differentiate it from others in the market. Leaders influence the organizational culture both positively & negatively through their leadership styles. For example, a coercive style with a slogan, “do what I tell you! will disrupt the entire culture causing unhappiness to all, since it displays negative traits like arrogance & dominance, which no one likes. The end-result - productivity diminishes drastically. Similarly, a coaching style with a slogan, “try this, let’s see how I can support you” makes you gain respect amongst your team, because you are giving them both space & support to perform instead of scrutinizing their performance, thereby, increasing their confidence and assurance levels.
2. Can someone who is a leader not be a manager? Why or why not?
Management is a career which is not difficult to pursue, and requires academic & professional credentials along with a few personality traits like assertiveness, micromanagement etc. that all of us have and use at workplace. But most of us are unable to lead, because leadership is a calling – an inborn charisma of personality gifted to a chosen few having firm faith in their vision and inspiring people to follow it, willingly. Possessing such a charm, does not require an MBA or a work experience at Apple. Though, you can still have it despite having managerial attributes. Thus, a leader may or may not be a manager, but a manager is not a leader.”
3. How has management changed because of the increased role of globalization?
Globalization has made organizations expand their presence in other markets, making them face increased diversity at both market-level (culturally diverse customers, suppliers, vendors etc.) & organizational-level (culturally diverse employees, customers, management & leadership styles etc.). Consequently, everyone is required to interact with much more people than before, at a very different cultural level, causing the management to not only become multi-skilled like their multi-faceted target audience but also more accommodating to employees of diverse cultures. For example, with more Hispanics and women entering the workforce, management needs to be more adept in dealing with issues like racial discrimination, sexual harassment at workplace etc.
4. What characteristics should a leader have to make them successful globally?
They are:
i. Cross-Cultural Sensitivity – Appreciating diversity in languages & cultures of your co-workers & customers, instead of criticizing them for the same.
ii. Creativity – Capacity to think globally, respond locally, but operate “glocally”.
iii. Resilience – Demonstrate ability to “take a hit”, without getting bogged down.
iv. Technology Viewpoint – Be tech-savvy, viewing technology both as an enabler & a strategic business resource.
Set 4: Five Questions
1. What is the control function of management?
“Controlling” is monitoring the performance to ensure it matches the set expectations. Once the resources required to do the job have been aligned together through planning, organizing & directing, the only thing left is to see if everything is under control? This is because things seldom run smoothly despite flawlessly aligning them together. For example, system may crash causing data loss, two members might have issues working together in the same team or a new employee might feel overburdened etc. All these matters need to be looked into or controlled by the manager.
2. Why does the controlling function of management have a negative connotation?
Constant monitoring of the employees’ work has made people perceive a manager negatively as a “control freak”. People don’t like micromanagement as it curbs their freedom and thought process by not allowing them to work independently.
3. How does your organization use steps of the control process?
In our company control process starts soon after receiving the requirements document from the client to develop an application. The steps are:
a) Establishing standards of performance – Based on requirement document sent by the client for developing a particular web or mobile app.
b) Measurement of Actual Performance – We check the final output vis-à-vis the client’s guidelines. For example, in case of a web app, we do cross-browser testing to ensure the app is running smoothly.
c) Comparing actual vs. standard performance to identify deviations – To identify any discrepancies and correcting them in the next step discussed.
d) Corrective Action ─ Includes making changes to the originally written code or tackling visibility issues, if any, in all the commonly used browsers.
4. Does empowerment imply the loss of control? Why or why not?
Empowerment DOES NOT imply loss of control, because the employee still remains accountable for the final results. However, the difference is that the control now shifts from the manager’s physical presence in the office to micromanage the employee’s job performance, to the employee being delegated the work by the manager himself because of his trust in the employee’s capabilities to handle it independently without constant supervision. Thus, making the employee feel more respected and motivated to put in his best efforts.
References
Controlling Function of Management. managementstudyguide.com. Retrieved from http://managementstudyguide.com/controlling_function.htm
Reh J.F. (n.d.). Level 1 Management Skills: Management Skills for Beginners. about.com. Retrieved from http://management.about.com/od/managementskills/a/level1managementskills_2.htm
Reh J.F. (n.d.). Company Culture: What It Is And How To Change It. about.com. Retrieved from http://management.about.com/cs/generalmanagement/a/companyculture.htm
Globalization (2009). Globalization: The Leadership Difference.trescoach.com. Retrieved from http://www.trescoach.com/2011/03/09/globalization-the-leadership-difference/
Kossoff L. L. (n.d.). From Manager to Leader. about.com. Retrieved from http://management.about.com/od/leadership/a/FromMgr2Ldr05.htm
Sherman F. (n.d.). What Is The Relationship Between Organizational Functions & Organizational Structure?chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/relationship-between-organizational-functions-organizational-structure-18571.html
Kulkarni S. (n.d.), Planning & Types of Plans. scribd.com. Retrieved from http://www.scribd.com/doc/27608253/Types-of-Plans-in-Principles-of-Management
Death by Planning (n.d.). sourcemaking.com. Retrieved from http://sourcemaking.com/antipatterns/death-by-planning
